Skeleton Ace: “Suddenly you think – How much does my bra actually weigh?”
The pressure to meet weight limits in elite sports can trigger a risky spiral, pushing athletes to extreme and unsettling lengths, as experienced by skeleton racer Tina Hansova. she recounts a stark realization of this during a competition where the focus shifted from performance to obsessive weight management.
“You notice that instantly,” Hansova described, recalling feelings of shakiness, weakness, and a disconcerting emptiness in her legs. “And then these absurd thoughts happen because you are desperately looking for ’savings potential.’ Suddenly you think: ‘How much does my sports bra weigh?'” She revealed she removed her sports bra right before the start,even contemplating cutting her hair – a thought that,while seemingly comical,she acknowledges was deeply frightening.
This experience, she explains, highlights a troubling reality within the sport. “If you have to lose several kilograms in a short period of time, you will go into a spiral,” Hansova stated. she understands how female athletes can be vulnerable to developing eating disorders, admitting she herself experienced intrusive thoughts about restrictive behaviors, though thankfully didn’t act on them. ”the fact that such thoughts even arise in a professional sports setting shows that the system is setting the wrong stimuli.”
Hansova ultimately weighed in at 102 kg, comfortably within the permitted limit. Though, she felt the damage was already done. The competition was negatively impacted by her depleted physical and mental state. While adjustments were made to her sled, it became clear a lasting approach was impossible under the current conditions.
The weight rule, she believes, substantially hampered her chances of qualifying for the 2026 Winter Olympics. Despite being in peak physical condition and achieving personal best sprint times, Hansova argues that the mental burden of constant weight monitoring undermined her performance. “In the skeleton,it’s the little things that make the difference in the end – and for that you need a clear head.If you arrive at the track weary and only thinking about the scales, that’s not a fair starting point.”
Hansova questions the fairness of the blanket weight rule, arguing it unfairly groups athletes of different heights. “I am a normal weight and in a completely healthy range for competitive sports. Nevertheless, a fixed number puts me in the same category as athletes who are 1.60 meters tall.” She believes skeleton should be judged on skill, courage, and precision, not “kitchen scale math.” The pressure is so intense that athletes even question basic hydration needs between runs, weighing the risk of exceeding the limit against the necessity of drinking water.
She proposes adjustments to the rule, suggesting categorization by height as a potential solution. “Because skeleton is not just ‘weight’,but also aerodynamics and positioning. Blanket limits simply affect different bodies differently – and the psychological pressure on the athletes is enormous.”
Adding to the complexity, Hansova points out the impact of the female menstrual cycle. ”In certain phases – especially around my period – I have water retention and am automatically heavier. Then you do lymphatic drainage, plan your eating and drinking even more strictly – and suddenly a completely normal, healthy body process feels like a ‘problem.’ This is really mentally stressful.”