Natálie Taschlerová is a Czech ice dancer. With her brother and skating partner, Filip Taschler, she is the 2020 Nebelhorn Trophy champion and two-time Czech national champion (2022–2023). They represented the Czech Republic at the 2022 Winter Olympics.
On the junior level, she is the 2019 JGP USA bronze medalist and has competed in the final segment at three World Junior Championships, their highest placement being fourteenth in 2019. Nationally, she is a three-time Czech national junior champion.
Taschlerová began learning to skate in 2004 and subsequently began learning ice dance alongside her brother Filip following the end of his partnership with Karolína Karlíková. Years later, Taschler would say that “our relationship is better since we started skating together. When we were younger, we fought like small kids, but now we are adults. We respect each other.”
Taschlerová/Taschler made their international junior debut in the 2017–18 season, including two appearances on the ISU Junior Grand Prix, placing twelfth in Poland and thirteenth in Austria. After winning what would be the first of three Czech junior national titles, they made their first appearance at the World Junior Championships, where they finished eighteenth.
Competing their second season on the Junior Grand Prix, Taschlerová/Taschler were thirteenth at JGP Lithuania and eleventh at their home JGP Czech Republic. They then won their first international junior medals competing at minor events, a bronze at the Open d’Andorra and a silver at the junior category at the Inge Solar Memorial. Junior national champions for the second time, they finished the season placing fourteenth at the 2019 World Junior Championships.
Women Fitness President Ms. Namita Nayyar catches up with Natálie Taschlerová an exceptionally talented Czech ice dancer and two-time Czech national champion here she talks about her fitness routine, her diet, and her success story.
Namita Nayyar:
You were born in Brno, Czech Republic. You started skating at the age of three years and subsequently, you began learning ice dance alongside your brother Filip Taschler. In 2017–18 season you won first of three Czech junior national titles. This later propelled your career to the height where you have been at the top of the world of ice dancing. Tell us more about your professional journey of exceptional hard work, tenacity, and endurance?
Natálie Taschlerová:
I started with figure skating at the age of two, initially just to learn how to skate. Out of all the sports I’ve tried, I fell in love with figure skating the most. Alongside this, I was also engaged in sports gymnastics. However, a time came when I had to make a choice between the two. I had talent in both disciplines, but it was becoming increasingly difficult to maintain my commitment to each. Consequently, at the age of 11, I chose to continue with figure skating and stepped away from gymnastics.
My transition to ice dancing was prompted by a previous injury; I severely broke both bones in my right forearm for the second time, which resulted in a lengthy and difficult recovery. When I returned to the ice, the fear of jumping was overwhelming. I found myself contemplating whether to leave figure skating altogether to lead a more conventional life focused on school. The alternative was to switch disciplines, and I always had strong skating skills and an intuitive feel for music on the ice. It was then that my brother, Filip, suggested we try skating together. Now, here we are in a different country, chasing our dreams. Sometimes, it all feels quite surreal.
Our first junior medals gave us a glimpse of a promising future in the sport. These achievements fueled our ambition to reach higher levels. During the 2018-2019 season, we were still skating and living in our hometown, Brno, training under our former coach Nikola Višnová. Our coach had trained and lived in Milan during her professional career. Although home was comforting, we knew that to improve, we needed to step outside our country. We explored staying home as long as possible, trying to find suitable training conditions. However, this proved very challenging.
The first major change was our schooling. With training starting at 11 a.m. and ending around 5-6 p.m., attending school daily became nearly impossible. Some teachers were unsupportive of our journey, causing more problems. As a result, we switched to online homeschooling, which was a tremendous help. We both graduated high school and found we actually enjoyed studying. The best part just needed a computer and Wi-Fi to connect to our classes’ haha!
That season, we began collaborating with Matteo Zanni, travelling to Milan for weeks at a time to prepare for significant competitions like the 2018 Nationals and the 2019 Junior Worlds in Zagreb. After the season, Matteo invited us to move to the USA with him, offering us a chance to start a new life there. It was a pivotal opportunity, and we knew if we wanted to excel, we had to seize it. Our former coach, who was pregnant for the second time and planning to retire from coaching, supported this move. Leaving our family was tough, especially since our father was ill, but he encouraged us to pursue our dreams.
In the summer of 2019, we relocated to Chicago. It was a huge change – new country, different language – everything was unfamiliar, but it was exciting. We even spent the first week sleeping on the floor without beds, which is now one of my fondest memories. Exploring the USA, experiencing new culture, and meeting athletes and coaches were incredible. Besides training with Matteo Zanni, we worked with Collin Brubacker and Oleg Ebstain. Everything seemed perfect. It was the summer of my dreams. Until our lives were turned upside down.
In July 2019, our father passed away from cancer. It was devastating and brought everything to a halt. We returned to the Czech Republic, uncertain about our next steps – whether to continue skating or stay home to support our mom. The financial aspect was a significant concern since figure skating is very expensive. However, we tried to keep going. Skating became one of the things that saved us. While we didn’t have much time to process our grief, we continued, knowing this was what our dad wanted – for us to always fight and follow our dreams. Figure skating is a long journey where patience, passion, and a love for hard work are very important.
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