With graduation nearing and the potential for an Olympic debut on the horizon, senior track and field athlete Kristine Blazevica has a momentous spring semester ahead of her.
“It’s interesting how my graduation year and Olympic year are the same year,” Blazevica said. “It’s kind of like one chapter is closing and another one is opening up.”
Blazevica, originally from Latvia, is a centerpiece for Texas, having won the bronze medal in the pentathlon event this month at the NCAA Indoor National Championships. Despite being Texas’ top performer at the meet and becoming a six-time First Team All-American, Blazevica said the results did not measure up to her expectations.
“Coming into (the) competition, my goal was to win, and I felt like this year it should have been much easier because I felt my best, as strong and as fast as I’ve ever been,” Blazevica said.
Blazevica has turned the page to the upcoming outdoor season, wanting to learn from mistakes made at nationals and apply the lessons she learned. The stakes for this outdoor season could never be higher, serving as an opportunity for Blazevica to represent her country at the 2024 Olympics in Paris.
“I’m focused on (outdoor) preparation, and I’ll make sure that I don’t repeat the same mistakes,” Blazevica said. “I feel like I know exactly the moments of the competition where I lost my gold medal.”
The outdoor season kicked off one week after the indoor nationals. While the stress of the track and field season might be disadvantageous to some, Blazevica sees the constant meets, no matter how small, as an opportunity to constantly improve during the buildup to the championship season.
“Sometimes I go into (a) competition sore and tired because we are in the middle of the training cycle for preparing for nationals, so I just think (of) those competitions as lessons and training,” Blazevica said. “You can see what’s working, what’s not working, and how you perform under pressure.”
When it comes to the challenging task of balancing academics and athletics, Blazevica views school as an enrichment to her life as an athlete as well as her mental and spiritual well-being. As a student at the McCombs School of Business, Blazevica’s commitment to avoiding procrastination in classwork stems from her desire to be distraction-free during training and meets.
“When I have school, it’s easier for me to plan my time and succeed everywhere,” Blazevica said. “I like to think about (school) as a need for my body, for my mind, for my creativity, and for my soul.”
Despite being one of the top women in the combined events, Blazevica is still navigating the challenge of finding joy in competing while handling the pressure to produce results.
“I struggled with direct competition, and that’s what I’m still working on,” Blazevica said. “I learned how to enjoy competition because, since the very beginning, it (was) really hard mentally.”
Results in track and field can be volatile, and for Blazevica, it’s important to not dwell on setbacks and instead show resilience in training.
“One competition doesn’t determine how your season is going to go,” Blazevica said. “So you just need to review what went wrong, talk to your coach, refocus, and still get there.”
