Fencer Choupenitch secretly marries swimmer Barbora Seemanová

Czech fencer Alexander Choupenitch, who won the world championship this season and became world number one, has secretly married swimmer Barbora Seemanová. The couple announced the wedding in an unusual way — with a photo of the bride's swim cap bearing his surname.

Choupenitch said the past season was special for him: he won the world championship final 15:2 and topped the world rankings for the first time. But, he said, just as much joy came from his own return to the hall after a break — feeling again the pull of training alongside his teammates.

How they kept the wedding secret

Choupenitch and Seemanová didn't publicize their relationship or the wedding. “We mostly keep our privacy for ourselves and our families. We're surrounded by good people, and everyone respects our personal space, so keeping it secret wasn't that hard,” the athlete explained.

The couple announced the marriage in an original way — with a photo of a swim cap bearing Barbora's new surname. According to Choupenitch, it felt right to give fans and everyone who supports them a heads-up so there'd be no confusion: from now on Seemanová competes under the surname Choupenitch, while he himself hasn't switched to swimming — he joked that someone might otherwise have thought so.

Asked what had changed in him since the wedding, the fencer said he'd stayed the same — just with a little more inner joy than before.

Medals on the shelf and a new season

This year the family has two major awards at once: Choupenitch's world championship gold and his wife's medal from the European swimming championships. The couple doesn't have a special display case for trophies — the medals are kept at home on a shelf, and sometimes brought along to interviews. According to the athlete, the value isn't in the medal itself but in the title and in what it took to achieve it.

Choupenitch hasn't trained with a foil in hand for almost two months — from late July until September. Training is now back in full swing with his physical conditioning coach and fencing coach. The first days back after a break are always tough, the athlete admits, but then you get drawn back into the process — and after a voluntary break that's always easier than after a forced one.

What helps him get through the tough start of the season is his love for what he does: he knows in advance that training will be hard, but he likes the feeling when the tough work is behind him and the whole team celebrates it together.

Choupenitch declined to talk about his sporting goals, including the Olympics — he says he never speaks his dreams and goals out loud. He did, however, confirm the schedule: the new season will start earlier than usual, already in October with a tournament in Japan, followed by one World Cup stage every month right up to the July world championship in Tashkent. The athlete is also paying special attention to small details of his preparation, including the results of neuro-testing.

What's still room to improve? “Everything,” Choupenitch admitted. The world championship final looked flawless from the outside, but he'd like to show that level of play more often and learn from mistakes as tournaments unfold.

His own manager

Choupenitch is officially his own manager, but, he says, that doesn't mean he acts alone — there are people around him who help with things. The world title has opened up new possibilities for sponsor negotiations, and some deals are already close to being finalized. He singled out the support of the university sports center, not just for himself but for young fencers too. Compared with how things were when he was fifteen, the progress, he says, is enormous: young athletes now have the chance to travel the world, take part in training camps and develop.

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Around Prague, based on reporting by sport.cz