Trail runner

Found a new home and love in Pinzgau

For Kristyna Cerna, sport is the perfect balance.(Bild: Sportograf)

Trail runner Kristyna Cerna has lived in Austria for more than five years, but still competes for the Czech Republic. She has not yet been granted citizenship, although the former biathlete works in Pinzgau and lives with her boyfriend. It was always clear to her that she wanted to live in the mountains.

The season got off to a very successful start for trail runner Kristyna Cerna with a victory in Istria at the beginning of April. "I'm really pleased with that," beamed the Czech. What does she have to do with Salzburg? The 31-year-old has lived in Maishofen in Pinzgau for more than five years. Because she feels extremely at home there, she has now also applied for Austrian citizenship - but despite her job as a teacher, this is not so easy to obtain. "I'm really fed up, I'd love to compete for Austria," sighs Cerna and says quite clearly: "I never want to go back to the Czech Republic."

The athlete has found her home and her love in Pinzgau. Ex-cross-country skier Fabian Hörl is dating the ex-biathlete. However, they didn't get to know each other during their careers, but afterwards. "We saw each other a lot, but as active athletes we didn't hit it off yet," smiles Cerna. After her career ended (she once stood on the World Cup podium with the relay team), she had a goal.

"I wanted to live abroad in the mountains. But it wasn't so easy at first because of the language. That's when I realized that I had to learn everything," says the athlete, who specializes in ultra runs (70 to 110 kilometers). Her next goal is the ultra run over 80 kilometers in Lavaredo in the Italian Dolomites at the end of June.