Sarka Pultar Musilova: A world-record journey that began with a ‘why not?’

ATHLETE SPOTLIGHT is presented by WIAWIS.

A visa mix-up nearly kept Sarka Pultar Musilova out of the Ahmedabad 2026 Hyundai World Archery Para Series. After battling extreme heat to win three gold medals in India, the Czech W1 archer went on to break her own world record in Santiago.

The world number one’s journey to India began with a visa complication. Due to an incorrect passport number on her visa, she could not board the flight in Prague with the rest of the Czech team. A fresh visa application had to be arranged, along with a new flight ticket.

Two days later, she made the journey alone to Ahmedabad, arriving just in time for the competition.

Getting to India was one challenge. Competing in the heat was another.

The W1 archer came close to collapsing after releasing her final arrow in the individual gold medal match.

“Although I may have looked emotional after my final arrow, the truth was that I felt so unwell from overheating and fever that I had a few tears in my eyes,” Musilova said.

Ahmedabad presented a particularly difficult schedule for the W1 category. Qualification, elimination rounds and finals all took place around midday or in the early afternoon, during the hottest part of the day.

“Unfortunately, our bodies cannot regulate their temperature properly,” she explained. “This made the competition extremely demanding, both physically and mentally.”

“You were basically hoping that you would only start feeling unwell once the competition was over.”

Ice and cold water were available, but even those offered limited relief. Speaking about the Czech team’s experience, Musilova said they had all been pushed to their absolute limits.

“Perhaps that makes us appreciate the final results and everything we achieved there even more,” she said.

Almost a month later, Musilova travelled to the Santiago 2026 Hyundai World Archery Para Series, this time with a comparatively smoother journey than to India – a two-hour flight to Paris followed by another 14.5 hours to Chile.

The weather was perfect, too, allowing her to enjoy the competition and surpass the target of 660 set by her coach, Vladimir Brada. She knew she could reach that level, having previously scored 660 at an able-bodied competition at home and 669 in practice.

In Santiago, she shot 667, improving her own W1 women’s world record of 659, set at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games, by eight points.

She went on to win gold in the individual and mixed team events, completing another successful appearance on the Para Series circuit after her victories in Nove Mesto and Ahmedabad.

“I was really happy to break my world record in Santiago,” she said. “The weather was perfect, which made it even more enjoyable, and I could really enjoy the competition.”

There was little time to celebrate, though.

“He [her coach – Vladimir Brada] slightly ruined my excitement afterwards when he told me that my next target was to score 670 points,” she quipped. “But I guess I’m already used to that!”

For Musilova, the satisfaction was not only in the record itself. She was pleased to have completed the tasks her coach had set, including those for the final.

“There is still a lot of work ahead of me, so I definitely won’t rest on my laurels. I will keep working.”

The numbers made for an impressive result. But the story of how she arrived here began far from the world-record line.

In 2014, Musilova met fellow Czech archer David Drahoninsky at a centre for people with disabilities. He suggested she give archery a try.

“I’m a bit crazy about new stuff, so my answer was, hell, why not? To be honest, I had no clue how far it would take me,” she recalled.

She fell in love with archery from the beginning. When Drahoninsky told her about the opportunity to compete together at the Paralympic Games in the mixed team event, she saw it as a challenge.

Her first world championships came at the 2015 World Archery Para Championships in Donaueschingen, where she received a difficult reality check. She finished second from the bottom of the individual standings, while also struggling in the mixed team event.

“It was a turning point and I knew I had to do something different,” she said.

That change came through working with Drahoninsky, who helped her understand not just how to shoot, but also how to identify what worked best for her. Around the same time, she began working with coach Brada.

“Together, we gradually started figuring out what worked for me and what didn’t. It has been a continuous process that has lasted until today, and we are still working on it.”

Looking back, she has one piece of advice for the younger version of herself who first picked up a bow:

“I would like to encourage my younger self to take this long road of ups and downs in practice and competitions and never regret any decision you made.”

Musilova will not compete at the Hyundai World Archery Para Series Final in Dubai this December. With her indoor season beginning, she plans to compete at an indoor tournament in Slovakia in early January, followed by the Czech Indoor Championships.

Beyond that, the focus is already clear.

The coming year will bring the start of qualification for the LA28 Paralympic Games, and she wants to be ready to fight for a place.

“I want to be well prepared and ready to fight for one of those spots,” Musilova said. “I am not looking too far ahead just yet, as this will be the main focus for now. After that, we will see what comes next.”