(Reuters) – Polish racewalker Katarzyna Zdzieblo could benefit from a well-deserved vacation after winning silver medals at both the World and the European athletics championships but she is instead going back to the hospital where she works.
Zdzieblo, 25, finished second in the 20km and 35km race walks at the World Athletics Championships in the U.S. in July and won another 20km silver medal in Munich at the European championships in August.
She can also count graduating from medical school among her achievements this year and will return to a hospital in Rzeszow, a city in the south-east of Poland, to complete her training.
“I do not treat my return to work in the role of a doctor as a clash with reality but rather as something new,” Zdzieblo told Polish news outlet Sportowe Fakty.
“After so many weeks of training and travelling to the World Championship and to Europe I find changing place, surroundings, and environment appropriate.”
Once her internship is over, Zdzieblo will have to decide whether to postpone her plans to specialise in radiology and focus on athletics.
“The trend in racewalking is that peak form comes after the age of 30,” she added.
“I do not look that far into the future because my life has taught me I cannot think that long-term and that it is better to focus on what I can do to be happy at a given moment.”
(Reporting by Silvia Recchimuzzi in Gdansk; Editing by Toby Davis)
