And boy, has it paid off.
The 28-year-old archer’s medal haul for 2026 includes silver at the European Grand Prix Spring Arrows, gold at the 2026 Veronica’s Cup, gold in Madrid and now gold in Mexico.
She made herself Czechia’s first recurve women’s world champion in Berlin, and now Saltillo joins the German capital as a city dear to her heart – and to Czech archery.
Czechia is one of the smaller nations in Europe, with a population of only 10 million, and sporting stars come few and far between, particularly at an international level.
Performances like today therefore accelerate Horackova’s legacy and stardom in the country, but also raise the profile of archery as a whole.
“It’s true that in Czechia, archery is also small and promoting it here and by my achievements, it means a lot to me and I’m like quite an icon of our sport in my country.”
“I hope that more will come but it’s quite complicated because we’re not a big country and there are many other sports, mostly football, ice hockey, basketball, who are more supported, so then you have to be really good in a sport which is not so popular,” she added. “Then you can get also big support, but you really have to be one of the best.”
It’s one thing to be a world-class athlete; it’s another to be one of the very few to carry an entire nation’s hopes.
Horackova’s class brushes it off as if it’s nothing, though, which makes her so special.
Sunday’s matches brought the 2026 Hyundai Archery World Cup season to a close, with the 2027 edition set to open in April in Shanghai (China).
