Sarka Pancochova is the new rising star on the Swatch TTR Tour, and with seasoned vets like Tina Ramholt (SUI) and Martin Cernik (CZE) pushing her to step up, it’s no surprise that this 19-year-old Czech rider is finding her place at the center of the world stage.

Sarka grew up putting in the hours at her local mountain, Morava Pico in Czech, where she fast developed into one of the craziest little rippers on the mountain, going huge off the kickers and hitting gnarly rails with the best of them. Looking at Sarka’s early contest results you can see that she dominated most of the local contests she entered, and as is the story with the TTR groms, if you dominate your local contest scene, it’s only a matter of time before the sponsors come banging on your door and you’re on your way to the big time.  The sponsors did indeed come calling, and before she knew it she was jet-setting round the globe, showing the world what Czech shredding is all about.

In 07/08 Sarka gained huge recognition outside of the Czech Republic, taking out the 3Star Quiksilver Snowjam and both the Protest and O2 World Rookie Fests, whilst posting a ton of other impressive results, showing Europe, and the world that she was a force to be reckoned. She spent her summer in New Zealand and Saas Fee training for the 08/09 season’s Northern Hemisphere events and the hard work paid off for her at the 4Star Pleasure Jam, in Dachstein, where she unleashed a silky smooth Switch BS 180 and BS 7, backed up by another FS 7, to claim first place and announce her arrival to the big league. She performed consistently in both slopestyle and halfpipe events throughout the winter finishing the 08/09 season at World No. 8 making sure the industry, media and fans were aware of this new Czech talent.

2009/2010 Sarka is back stronger than ever and she started off in the Southern Hemisphere with a 7^th place at the 5Star Burton New Zealand Open slopestyle and a 2^nd place at the 3Star Billabong BroDown. A 4^th place at the 4Star Horsefeathers Pleasure Jam lifted her into the TTR Tour lead, where she stayed for 11 weeks for the first time in her career. She went on to take 4^th at the Roxy Chicken Jam slopestyle in Saalbach and then she had her first 6Star podium moment with a 3^rd place at the Burton European Open slopestyle. In the 09/10 season Sarka was like many athletes balancing her TTR commitments with Olympic qualifying events and swinging by the Olympics (taking 14^th place). Her fifth place in the slopestyle of the Roxy Chicken Jam US, the final 6Star event for women in 09/10, and an eight place at the slopestyle of the Burton US Open, pushed Sarka into the final TTR Top 3 in World No. 3, one step closer to her goal of becoming TTR World Champion one day. Thanks to her final season ranking, Sarka will be invited to all major competitions on the Tour next year and received prize money of $ 15,000 USD. 

Sarka’s the No. 1 female representing Czech right now and with skills and abilities like hers, going bigger and spinning smoother than most girls her age, she’s able to battle it out with the girls she’s grown up idolizing.  She has snowboarding in her blood, and with plenty of points already posted, and an exciting desire to push female riding to the next level (read: double back flips) eyes will be glued to Sarka as she amps up the contest levels, putting pressure on her heroes.

INTERVIEW WIHT SARKA IN DEC 2009

1. You recently took out the 4Star Horsefeathers Pleasure Jam in Dachstein, Austria.  That contest was stacked with some premier TTR female riders and you managed to beat them all! How did you feel when you won? How did it compare to your other 2Star and 3Star contest wins?

It was a really good feeling, my first really big contest.  This contest was fun, many friends of mine and good park conditions.  This was my best result until now.

2. During the contest we saw you stomp a BS 7 to FS 7, some super impressive tricks.  Have you been training hard? What other stuff can we expect to see from you this season?

Yeah I was in New Zealand this summer for pipe training, and also I was in Saas Fee, there were some good kickers so I was pushing it all summer.  You will be really surprised at what I will do in the next contests.

3. Your are always charging the big kickers and starting to get a reputation as a girl as who is not afraid to put your body on the line.  What would you say motivates you when you’re snowboarding?

I think my friends motivate and push me to ride the most.   I couldn´t be as good as I am without them.  I also love snowboarding and air time on big kickers.   This also pushes me, as does stomping new tricks.

4. You have been riding with Tina Ramholt (SUI) a lot lately, another a charging female rider on the Tour. Do you motivate each other?

Yes I love riding with her, she is a really good rider and she pushes me to do better stuff for sure.  It is so much fun when we ride together I hope we can ride all competitions together and win.

5. You are from The Czech Republic, a country that is fast developing into a powerhouse of European Snowboarding.  Can you tell us a bit about what it has been like to be a rider coming up in Czech Republic?

We have some good parks where you can ride, but the problem was that the last two winters we didn´t have enough snow.  Luckily for me I have good sponsors, Nugget, Flow, Bern and Spy, they are like my family and have helped me so much.

6. When did you realize that you could have a career as professional snowboarder?

When I started to win every contest in Czech, then I went aboard and
it also was not so hard to win.

7. What do you want to achieve with your snowboarding career?

I would like to go to the Olympic Games and also get some good results in the TTR rankings.  I would like to advance girls snowboarding to a higher level whilst also focusing on improving my style.

8. When did you first start competing? How have competitions changed since then?

I started competing about two years ago at some locals comps in Czech and since then my snowboarding has changed so much.  The first times were good in Czech because I won everything, but later it got boring.  I wanted to be good aboard and this was break point for me to leave Czech.


9. What does snowboarding mean to you?

It’s my life, I love it, I can´t be without snowboarding, for me it’s like food, something I need.  You always know if you have some troubles you just go and ride and during the riding your troubles are gone, just riding and nothing else.


10. Who are your favourite riders and why?

I don’t have a favourite rider, but some riders like Markku Koski, Eero Ettala  are so good, specially Markku, he really knows what snowboarding means and I like it. Also Martin Cernik, a Czech rider, has helped me so much and I like him for this.