Meet the Athlete: Kalina Karacheva

Tell us about yourself?

My name is Kalina Karacheva and I am 17 years old (U20 age group). My current events are 400m and high jump. I train sprinting with Howard Moscrop on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and with Rachel and Phil Smith on Wednesday. I train high jump with Martin Smith on Wednesdays and Sundays. 

Tell us about your Swindon Harriers journey?

I first started athletics at the age of 7, however that was in Bulgaria where I was born and grew up. I moved to England when I was in year 7 and that’s when I joined Swindon Harriers. Unfortunately, soon after I joined, Covid happened and we had to go into lockdown so I only got to train with the club for about 6 months. After covid ended, I continued training there as athletics is something I had always enjoyed. I would train once a week, on a Wednesday night. Those sessions were usually quite fun and nothing serious. After a few months John Dill saw my potential and asked me to join his training group. He was my first coach at Swindon Harriers and I trained middle distance with him for about 2 years. Once I started training with him I got a lot more serious about athletics and started competing for the club. I was producing great results and would score lots of points across the league matches. Essentially, I realised middle distance wasn’t right for me and that’s when I transitioned to sprinting. I started training short sprints (100m and 200m) with Phil and Rachel Smith. I trained with them once a week, which wasn’t enough for me, so I also joined Howard’s sprints group. After a few months I found myself doing longer sprints (such as 300m and 400m) and that’s when I really developed as an athlete. My times were phenomenal, which essentially lead me to English Schools. I had also set a new club record in the U17 girls 300m. Amongst all the sprinting, I also started doing high jump. I don’t really know why I chose the event, but I really enjoy it and I also produce great performances, thanks to my coach Martin Smith. Some people say 400m and high jump is an unusual combination but it works for me and I’m happy to continue this. 

What do you like about the club?

Something I enjoy about the club is how warm and welcoming everyone is. When joining a new group the coaches always make sure to include everyone so no one feels left out. This helps everyone become friends and creates a nice social atmosphere 

Do you have any targets or ambitions that you’re willing to share with us?

My biggest target is becoming an international athlete. This year I was hoping to represent my home country, Bulgaria, in the U18 Balkan championships as I almost ran the normative time for selection earlier in the season. Unfortunately the competition got cancelled and I was unable to do that. This doesn’t mean I am giving up, and will continue to work hard to hopefully make an appearance in the Balkan or even European championships next season. 

How does Harriers help you cope with day to day life?

I find it that after having a stressful day at college or if I’m feeling down, going to training makes me feel so much better. I’m very lucky to have created such good friends through athletics that always lighten my mood whenever I’m upset. Additionally, actually doing my session (whether it’s running or jumping) really helps me relax and brings me so much joy as it takes my mind off things and I don’t really need to think about anything other than track. 

What advice would you give to yourself ?

Something I would tell my younger self is to not be afraid to try new things and to not let other people’s opinions influence my decisions. This is because I remember thinking I could never do anything else other than 100m sprints as that was what I was comfortable with, and anything over that was simply “too long”. Another thing I would tell myself is to not do athletics just to satisfy others. Every athlete has off days and can’t perform to their best ability all the time. That’s why you don’t need to be afraid of failure or of what other people would think if you didn’t win your event. At the end of the day, sport is something you should do for your own enjoyment. 

Anything else you want to say ?

Yes, I would like to share some of my biggest accomplishments. Last season was the first time I got selected to go to English schools for my sprinting. Though I didn’t get a good position I ran a massive PB and that made me really motivated as it was one of my best performances in my career which really helped me see what level I was really at. A few months later I flew out to Bulgaria where I competed in the U20 national championships. There I placed 5th overall in high jump, 6th in 400m and 4th in the 4x400m relay. This season, I flew out to Bulgaria again where I competed in the U18 National championships. I performed incredibly well there as I placed 3rd in 400m with a PB, 2nd in high jump with another PB, and our relay team placed 2nd as well. I am going out there again for more competitions, so hopefully more good performances will be coming soon.