SPAIN PÉREZ DECORATED PODÚBRAD WITH A 35KM WORLD RECORD FROM ANOTHER PLANET 2:37:15.

SPANISH MARTIN 2:25:35 AND GERMAN LINKE 2:27:05 SET NATIONAL 35K RECORDS.

FANTASTIC PERFORMANCES AND PERSONAL RECORDS OF THE CZECH DUO ZAJÍČEK 1:26:37 + MORÁVEK 1:27:33 AT 20KM!!!!! WONDERFUL JUNIOR KLIMENTOVA ONE STEP AWAY FROM BRONZE MEDAL IN 10KM 48:15!!!!! BRAVO, BRAVO, BRAVO!!!!

The European Walking Team Championship is a thing of the past. The demanding weekend in Poděbrady took place in beautiful sunny weather, when after a rainy week there was a temperature shock and a shift of about 13º.

The preparations finished with the Saturday test race at 3000m and 5000m. After the truncated covid EC, when participation was guaranteed to only 30 selected competitors, this time looking at the start list was more joyful.

In the 3000m race, he showed a great performance and a great personal record Dan Mochal from Liberec. Coach Párys' protégé held the silver medal behind the Slovak representative Bátovský for a long time, but in the last 400m he was able to catch up with his Slovak opponent and definitely went for a huge personal best - 14:02, when he was able to give his stiffening opponent another 8 seconds. He also finished in third place in a personal record ButRoar Plecháček from Turnov - 14:38 p.m. He represented the organizing section Vojtěch Vejvančicky in fourth place in the new OR 16:02, which is behind coach Rein's expectations, but given the work done in the previous hours, it is appreciated.

PHOTO GALLERY OF 5KM and 3KM RACE

In the 5000m races, the veteran was the fastest Czech at the finish line Lukáš Pazdera (great 22:31), from the point of view of the future of Czech walking, however, we can be particularly pleased with the performance of Frýdek Vojtěch Novák. He attacked the 24-minute mark for the first time, improved the spring time from Holešov by a minute and scored a great 23:29. The highly experienced also deserves a mention Mela Reinová from AC Rumburk, which also did not hesitate after two days of preparations for the race in Poděbrady and fearlessly set out on the race track.

A total of 87 pedestrians took part in the test races, 3 competitors were disqualified, Stand Marek most likely, after his premiere in the so-called penalty box, he successfully completed his next Poděbrady race.

Sunday then belonged to the championship race. As early as 7:30 a.m., the 35km competitors lined up for the start, and there was a lot to see in both categories. Despite the rising temperature, the trees on the colonnade helped maintain at least acceptable conditions, and record-breaking battles took place on the colonnade. Svset record by half a minute for Mária Pérust (ESP), that was the clear highlight of the day. The beautifully running Spaniard made us forget years of technical problems and with incredible style achieved a time of 2:37:15 with incredible ease.

However, men were not left behind either. Álvaro Martín (ESP) and the other NěLink's sword they went for national records. The fast Poděbrady circuit brought a flood of personal records and the best performances of the season. The European pedestrians arrived in Poděbrady perfectly prepared and presented an extremely attractive spectacle.

Unfortunately, the Czech representatives did not succeed. We didn't have a team in either race, so the focus was on 2 competitors. Wild card starter Tereza Ďurdiaková and Víta Hlaváče. Unfortunately, Tereza did not confirm the validity of the wild card, from the beginning it was difficult and she withdrew from the race after a slow 20 km. The participation in Budapest is over, the nomination period for the 35km race ends on May 30.5. After the Poděbrady fiasco, another wild card should be utopia.

Exi Tour de France fromracers are not only fighting for the legendary "maillot jaune", priceanother title is also "Prix ​​de la combativitE". After Sunday morning, the title of the man who showed the greatest combativeness and tenacity of spirit can be proudly Vit Hlaváč. He entered the race with a clear goal, namely to try for the confirmation limit for the WC. He was extremely far away, the back thigh muscle, which has been bothering Vítek all spring, was heard in such a way that there was no one who could not see it. From the 10 km mark, Vítek literally dragged his leg behind him, staggered and every step hurt almost everyone around him. He even stopped twice during the race, but finished the race with great self-denial. Also because he already knew about Tereza's withdrawal and wanted at least one of the Czech competitors to see the finish line. Hats off. To enjoy the torment, the timer let him walk an extra lap on the colonnade. The season is practically over for Vítek. The time has come to heal the injury and gradually get the opportunity to return to where he undoubtedly belongs according to last season.

Subsequently, the women took part in the 20 km race. Although it was shortly before noon, part of the race could still be completed in acceptable weather. Even so, the race was not super fast.

Victorious Greek Ntrismpioti she went 1:29:17 and by just 2 seconds beat the returning champion from Sapporo after injuries and surgeries - Italian Palmisano. The third in the finish line was collapsing the year before Portuguese Cabecinha, who, like the winner, will celebrate her 40th birthday this year! She still got under the elite limit of 90 minutes Lyudmila Olyanovska, which is well known to Czech pedestrians thanks to Pep Smol, who brought it to the Prague Clock Tower.

Only Czech women competed in the EC Eliška Martínková, which primarily wanted to fulfill the limit for the Universiade. After the first fast kilometers she dropped out of the group, she fought alone, in the second half of the race she struggled significantly, but also thanks to the DQ of her rivals, ev. sending them to the penalty zone has moved the order significantly forward. This gave Eliška a kick and in the last kilometers of the track she was able to get back to the pace brilliantly and finally finish in 12th place in the third best time of her career 1:33:02. Participation in the Universiade is thus assured, but the limit for the WC is still 62 seconds away. According to coach Čermáková, she will try for it while participating in ME 22 in Espoo. With a high-quality performance, it can only be a pity that the peak of the season for the Czech athlete is somewhere else than the home European Championships. In Poděbrady, however, she could hardly think about a medal, in Espoo she may also fight for the title. And at the end of the season, the medal is what counts the most.

Other Czech female competitors started only in the open race and did not do very well. Bakliková withdrew from the race, Borovičková was disqualified, Nelly Bugárová crossed the finish line in 1:58:31, Johana Petříková struggled immensely, the race did not suit her at all, but she refused to give up and reached the finish line in 2:07:59.

At the end of the women's race, the Poděbrady colonnade turned into a real hell, and the men set off for the glory of the race. The hot and sultry day did not record fast times, and a number of competitors could not cope with the change in temperature over the weekend, they withdrew from the race, possibly. they went far below their means. However, this did not apply to the winner Francesco Fortunato who flew through the course in 1:18:59 and thus did not give a chance to the defender of the victory Persy Karlströmovi - 1:19:27. He performed an incredible performance in 10th place Portuguese Vieira. We haven't seen a time of 1:22:08 here for about 20 years, the Portuguese can do it even at the age of 48!!!!

Czech colors were represented by Karel Ketner's wards. In recent weeks, a number of defamatory statements have been made about their group, a dishonest game was also played on the soil of the union, when calling a competitor to the carpet 5 days before the EC is really not normal... However, the boys did not let themselves be thrown away and showed what fighters they are. They went side by side for a large part of the race in really challenging conditions. In the last quarter, Zajíček broke away from Morávek and achieved a great personal record and this year's best Czech performance of 1:26:37. Jaromír Morávek was fighting behind him, and he could rightfully rejoice at another personal best - 1:27:33. The performance of both fighters in the given weather was fantastic, further underlined by the accomplished limit for ME 22 in Espoo. A very nice technical performance then showed that the cooperation with the Slovaks in the Tatras, when they honed the technique together, paid off.

Other honorable men got the opportunity to start only in the Permitt meeting. And it was a shame. If our third fastest at the finish line SunI go was classified within teams, we definitely wouldn't finish last. We could beat LTU, HUN and FRA. However, if he did not play, the Czech national team could not field a team.

At least Martin can be pleased with the fact that after the disqualification in Olomouc, he finished in the highest competition without a single draft and thus completed his first top twenty this year. The performance of the tenth Portuguese is certainly a motivation for further work. Rosťa Kolář finished in 1:41:35 in hot weather. Lukáš Gdula withdrew from the race after visiting the penalty zone and Albert Kukla also did not finish the race.

Then the juniors started the 10 km race. Unfortunately, Albert Kukla did not get a wild card there, even though he was only 12 seconds short of the limit. So he started the 20km race, where he wanted to go fast ten and then finish the race slowly. But at 18, such a task in hot weather is really difficult and Albert, unsurprisingly, did not do well at all. The battle for victory in the top ten took place under 43 minutes, the Italian Giampaolo won in 42:16.

The weather had already cleared up for the junior women's race, the sun stopped shining and a refreshing breeze blew through the colonnade. The junior girls won the temperature lottery for a perfect race. Only one Czech team entered the 10 km race Klimentová - Franklová. Both competitors covered the first kilometer in the leading group in 4:32 and most of us wondered what would happen next. And things happened. Ema Klimentová although she slowed down, she still kept a fantastic pace and after one of the Italians had to go to the penalty zone, she even got the chance to fight for the bronze. However, in the end, France, which was going great, didn't give her a chance and Ema finished fourth. A huge personal record of 48:15, the best Czech result of the day, the limit for the junior championship in Jerusalem met. Bravo.

The second Czech at the finish line Albeggar Franklová after all, she paid extra for the overheated start. The first 5 km in OR 24:22 gave hope even for a time under fifty, but then the kilometer circle started to get longer and longer. Alzběta finally finished in the improved OR in 51:06. The Czech team finished in fourth place.

The evaluation of this year's Poděbrady is thus very contradictory. Zajíček s Moravek and Klimentová deserve discharge. Great personal records (for boys in very demanding conditions) underlined by meeting the nomination criteria for the EC. Quality performance by Martínková with a nomination for the Universiade and Franklová's personal record. Vítek Hlaváč has his own category. He didn't succeed, but he performed a performance that is completely off the charts. Tereza Ďurdiaková had a really bad race.

Overall, the Czech performance can be evaluated excellently in terms of personal performances. However, from the point of view of the EC walking teams, the Czech national team failed completely. The inability to field a team in most races cannot be evaluated in any other way. We have been assigned the WC of walking teams for three years, unfortunately we have not adapted the Czech athletics infrastructure to it, and there is nowhere to take it even for the competition in 2025.

Finally, a huge thank you to everyone who participated in the preparation of the race. For pedestrians, it is mainly the team around Jan Rein from AC Rumburk.