- Editor
Proposal for an indoor meeting with a 3.000m walk in Sant Gallen, January 18, 2026
Below you can download the regulations for the indoor athletics meeting on Sunday, January 18th with a 3.000m walk for all categories including MASTERS.
The 3.000m race walk is OPEN for all categories including MASTERS.
Applications by email to:This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need to have Javascript enabled. , no later than Thursday, January 8, 2026
Time limit: 25:00min
The schedule is preliminary, the final one will be published on Tuesday, January 13, 26 here:https://www.lc-bruehl.ch/events/stadtwerk-hallenmeeting
Entry fee: 16,- CHF on site
- Editor
The traditional New Year's Eve walkers' hall will take place in the athletics hall in Jablonec nad Nisou on Saturday, December 27, 2025.
The organizer AC Slovan Liberec is looking forward to your participation.
The program includes a 5.000m walk for men, a 3.000m walk for women and boys and a 2.000m walk for younger boys.
The main men's 5.000m walk race will start at 13:15 p.m., with the other walking races starting at 13:50 p.m. and 14:10 p.m.
Come say goodbye to the year 2025 in Jablonec nad Nisou!
- Editor
In 2026, the league walk will also take place on the track in Radotín and on the new circuit in Kladno!!!
Author: Lucie Nekulová (Still managing league walking competitions)
In the summer months, farmers usually fight for grain, while in the fall, athletes fight for a place in the competition. And it's never an easy fight. This year was no different.
How is it all prepared? First, international competitions are set. The dates of the national championships are set according to them and the league adapts to them. When the dates of the track rounds are set, it is time to find a free weekend for walking races. The schedule is created by the competition department and approved by the Competition Commission. Unfortunately, walking was dropped from this list after this year's elections, when Mr. Veverka defended the leadership of the Competition Commission. The walking schedule was entrusted to the Competition Department, which manages the league competitions, last year and this year. A bureaucratic mess, as it should be in any good organization.
For 2026, the walking schedule is greatly influenced by the date of the event World Team Walking Championships in Brazil. That will be 12.4. 2026 and so the term Poděbrady and Dudince change. Dudince will be held unconventionally already 7.3.2026, i.e. 2-3 weeks earlier and the organizers themselves admit that the chance of snow is considerable. The Poděbrady plant then chose the date of May 8, 2026. And everything else depends on that.
The competition department traditionally arranges a race in Olomouc, where there is a problem with the park's occupancy and the date they find is practically unchanged. So if you take Poděbrady, Olomouc and then the rest, there is not much to look for. You take what is left with the understanding that there should be an effort to take reasonable breaks. This year, the director also came up with shortening the courses, because in the youth categories, World Athletics shortened the courses and we need to adapt to that. After all, a whole lot of young athletes start in league competitions. Moreover, last year, the top league athletes mostly praised themselves that there was a change and not just tens all the time. SK gave the green light to it.
Both traditional organizers and newcomers have signed up to host the races, and the schedule brings some surprises. So what will it look like this year?
1, Olomouc 18.4. 2026 - 1st round of the I. and II. leagues, 10 km course for both groups of men and women:
A traditional race with a traditional distance. The 10 km will allow athletes who will miss the limit for the Czech Championships to try it in Smetana Park. Throughout the schedule, there was an effort to give identical distances for all groups, which is easier organizationally and allows for competition and pushing your own limits across categories.
2, Prague - Radotín, 25.4. - 2nd round of the I. and II. leagues, 5000 m for both men and women groups:
There was a commotion over the date of this round. So much so that the SK date was returned for revision, because you can't have league rounds on consecutive weekends (the SK's position is a bit surprising, the chairman is the same and in 2023 the schedule passed him by, where 4 competitions were crammed into 30 days, including two championships...who did that back then?) And so it was changed to 1.5. 2026.. But the competition management protested there again. If we are accommodating the national team and the youth, we should also respect the interests of veteran athletes. And they will be competing in Italy at the non-stadia European Championships on this date. Fortunately, this opinion gained support Libor Dingy from the Competition Department and that
took it upon himself to return the date a week earlier. Although the league rounds will be right after each other, there is nothing else to do if Olomouc cannot be moved. And in the end it passed. We are not throwing Masters athletes overboard, after 10 km in Olomouc, only 5,000 m will be covered. Those who will not be in Italy can then enjoy the extended weekend and train towards Poděbrady. Libor, dWhoa!
The organizer is a newcomer. 3 applicants were interested in this date and it was decided to test the newcomer against the usual Nové Město - SC RadotínAnyone who has been to Pepa Smola's Hodinovce in Prague will already know the new stadium. Accessibility is excellent by car and train.
5,000m for both groups will allow young walkers to compete for places in the junior team for Poděbrady. The limit for the Junior World Championships will probably be high, but what if...? And the masters athletes will have their last hard training before the European Championships.
3, Poděbrady, 8.5. half marathon, 1st round of the extra league M/F:
This time, only a half marathon can be held in Poděbrady, and it will be run by elite walkers.
Unfortunately, we cannot use the shorter distance this time, last year was exceptional. The Poděbrady race also includes the Czech Half Marathon Walking Championship, and many league competitors will start there.
4, Kladno - 23.5., 10 km walk, 2nd round of the extra league, 3rd round of I. and II. league, 10 km course identical for both groups M/F:
Another newcomer among the organizers. There were more interested parties for this round as well, and the effort to try out new organizers gave Kladno preference over the traditional circuit in Satalice. The circuit for pedestrians found Vitek Hlavac and the race will be held in the park surrounding the Kladno athletics stadium. Competitors can look forward to a flat asphalt circuit with one 180° turn. At this point, the track is 8 m wide, so the curve will be wide enough.
The Kladno circuit looks very interesting and although I will personally miss Satalice in the league (I find the circuit there fun), Kladno will probably be better suited to quality times. The race can be used as the last chance to qualify for the Czech U20 Championship in June or the June youth inter-country race in Poland.
5, Brno - 15.08., 5 km walk, 4th round of I. and II. league, 5 km course, a lot for both groups M/F:
There were many question marks surrounding the Brno circuit. The old circuit was ending for economic reasons, the rent in the BVV area can be defined by the words of the song "Rocket to Mars", and the people of Brno were looking for a new circuit.
The circuit will be approximately 900m long and the race will be part of the Sports Festival in Brno. Given the length of the circuit and the warm summer weather, a 5 km course was chosen. Let's see what the people of Brno, led by an active walker, will do for us. Tomas Vojtíšek surprises.
The 2026 season will be truly different and will certainly bring a whole range of great sporting experiences. Moravia won 2 league rounds, Czech Republic has 2 rounds in Prague and the surrounding area. In the extra league, both rounds are concentrated in the Prague area. Good accessibility for everyone is also important. We will see how the shortening of the routes will prove to be successful and whether the newcomers will hold up organizationally.
Now all that's left to do is to accumulate training kilometers, hone your technique, and in the case of female drivers, monitor developments in the rules. That's also necessary. For example, from November 1, 2025, it will be possible to start long distance races while walking. clamped pants. So, for example, if it's freezing in Brno 😜, if you wear tight elastics so that the work of your knees is clearly visible, it will work.
Everyone just has to prepare in their own way. I look forward to seeing you in the 2026 season.
- Editor
The MUDr. Petr Brandejský Walking Cup was exciting until the very end! Very exciting finale of the International Walking Cup of MUDr. Petr Brandejský
Author of the article: František Párys - coordinator of the PB memorial
Only the Prague Hour Race, held in the very pleasant surroundings of the Radotín stadium, definitively determined the overall ranking of the 3rd annual Dr. Petr Brandejský Memorial. The decision on who would occupy the podium was actually made in the last discipline.
In the women's category, the junior Noemi Maják and the veteran Lenka Borovičková fought for the championship throughout this year. Noemi set a personal best in the 5,000 m in Radotín, but Lenka immediately countered with an excellent performance in the hour race, and so the overall victory in this year's MPB belongs to her. By only 3 points! After two second places in previous years, Lenka thus achieved a well-deserved championship. The fight for the bronze medal was equally exciting. With Martina Netolická absent, everything was in Tereza Pittnerová's favor, but everyone was surprised by Adéla Hůlková, who had an exceptionally successful end to the season and took 3rd place with a total of 300 points. In the final elite hour race, the great German veteran Brit Schröter was still attacking her position, but it was not enough for the younger student from Mladá Boleslav.
Among the men, Martin Nedvídek clearly dominated this year, but in the end it was not entirely easy here either. During the hour race, Martin suffered from muscle problems in the last quarter of an hour, so among other things, the need to gain at least some points in Radotín led him to finish the race with self-denial. Another Rumburk athlete – Vojta Vejvančický – could jump onto the silver podium at the final announcement, who was in exceptional form especially in the second part of this year's season. In Radotín, he presented it with a beautiful personal best at 5,000 m. There was also a fierce fight for 3rd place in the overall standings among the men. He won by just one point ahead of Pepa Kalát, a frequent participant of our races, Mirosław Luniewski from Poland.
Finally, it is fitting to thank everyone who participated in this year's memorial. The management of the Crystal Bohemia Poděbrady Glassworks, which once again presented the winners with beautiful cups, Petr Kratochvíl for arranging this sponsorship at the glassworks, Miriam Stewartová, who is in charge of the final editing of the prizes, Jan Rein for the posters and diplomas, Udo Schaeffer for the lightning-fast update of the scoring tables in connection with the introduction of the walking marathon and half marathon, Míl Lapka for financial support and others, whom I may have forgotten, God forbid.
The 3rd year of the competition, a proper tribute to the memory of our walking "Mr. Doctor", is over and it is time to think about how to continue this developing tradition. Participation has increased somewhat (this year 172 men and 163 women participated), so it is logical to consider the possibility of announcing more than the first three overall rankings. I have also noted suggestions for changing the scoring, e.g. the 5 best races out of a total of 7, etc. I look forward to all your opinions and ideas, as well as offers of cooperation in organizing the 4th year of the Dr. Petr Brandejský Memorial.
- Editor
Author of the article: Lucie Nekulová / Author of the photo: Jan Nekula
Lusatian Race Walking in Zittau took place on Saturday, October 25.10, 2025 on new tracks. The race was organized thanks to the support of the project Interreg in a unique Czech-German cooperation of clubs O-SEE Zittau and AC Rumburk was held for the fourth time. The organizers and competitors closely followed the truly terrible forecast, but in the end everything turned out much better. Even though in some parts of the course it was so windy that the assistants could not manage to deliver hot tea to the judges. The race was attended by 200 walkers from 22 countries of the world! The Czech Republic Championship was held, the Hungarians also had a championship race, and the Central German Short Distance Championship was held in Zittau again. The Liberec region was then holding its championship, and the ČAS manager Tomáš Krištof came to present the medals. Traditional finisher headbands from the Rein brothers' pen and it was great to see how many athletes competed with previous editions on their heads.
The race was started with a joint start for children and youth at 1 / 2 / 3km. 18 hopeful runners lined up at the start of the kilometer, which was dominated by the Slovak Riečanová Nelka in an excellent time of 4:46 and beat her teammate Matthew Kucera by 6 seconds. 23 children set off for the 2 km start and the race was dominated by the guys from Germany. Romello Kroll (10:54) beat in the end by 3 seconds Simon Bauer, the best girl in the overall standings took bronze Clara Weihart (11:16), who beat the finishing Slovak woman in her personal best performance by just one second Simona Holecová. The third place among the girls was won by the team from Mladá Boleslav Adele Hulkova in a significant personal best of 11:35.
There were 18 competitors in the top three as well. The race was dominated by Michal Bencik with a time of 14:42, he took silver Latvian Grandãls and the Slovak fighter finished third Veisenpacher (16:02). The Slovak woman also dominated the girls' race Nela Ščíbranova in a personal best of 15:16. A minute back was the German Neither Schenk and the bronze medal went to the competitor from Frýdek-Místek Veronika Zvonkova (17: 02).
And then came the marathon and half marathon, new distances in the walking repertoire. 43 men and women decided to try the half marathon distance. The start-finish line flew along the course with a commanding Mexican Roberto Vásquez Guiot - 1:25:26. The Mexican walkers completely dominated the podium as they ran for bronze Porcayo Villareal Isaac in 1:29:23 and defended the bronze Brandon Perez in front of the finishing and badly attacking American Nick Christie.
An Italian woman reigned supreme among women Giulia Gabriele, bronze medalist from this year's U23 European Championships, who mastered the course with a time of 1:38:16. 54 seconds behind, she finished the race fourth from this year's U20 European Championships Mina Stankovic. The talented Serbian competitor managed to improve the national record for 20km thanks to the official split time and was therefore doubly happy at the finish line. The Greek beauty crossed the finish line in third place Christina Papadopoulou, this year's participant in the World Championships in Tokyo (1:39:57).
26 athletes decided to run the premiere marathon. The defending gold medalists from last year, the Polish athletes, were also at the start. Ben Hlima and Katarzyna Zdiebło. Hlima went ahead from the start and quickly built up a lead. But the long course, the more demanding conditions, when it was really windy at times, all of this took away his strength at every step. And so the race started to become extremely interesting. For a while he led Italian Agrusti, then he was in charge German Karl Junghannß, he/she/it asked for the floor Hungarian Helebrandt, it was back and forth. Ben Hlima really fought, but his legs still remembered the Tokyo double and in the end it was fourth place - 3:07:51. With gradually increasing performance, he finally worked his way to the front of the race permanently Citrus and was the first to cross the finish line. It was held by none other than the Olympic champions. They had come to watch the race. Antonella Palmisano and Maria Perez. Both of them first helped at the refreshment stand, then took on the role of hostesses and welcomed the Italian at the finish line. He hung the silver medal around his neck Němec Karl Junghannß in 3:04:51 and the Hungarian champion won bronze Matthew Helebrandt - 3:07:26. The competitors were very competitive for the bronze and it was not at all certain how many actually reached the finish line.
The women were clear from the first meters. They set off bravely, with a smile and commitment Katarzyna Zdzieblo for another Zittau victory. She also went in last year's Zittau headband and then carefully hid this year's at the finish. The Polish woman was really excellent, a concentrated quality performance, when she never even got above the 5min/km mark, to cross the finish line in 3:24:19. An amazing lady who showed last year in Zittau that she had solved two years of technical problems and this year showed a flawless performance. She rose to second place on merit Magaly Bonilla, the sixth woman from this year's Dudince, who came from Ecuador for a time of 3:34:11. And she ran really beautifully, one of those competitors who is beautiful to look at. The third place was taken by another Polish woman, Agnieszka Ellward (3:37:03) and the Poles have already announced that the next Polish Marathon Championship will be in Zittau 2026!
After the 2-hour marathon race, so that they wouldn't be so alone on the course after finishing the half marathon, the marathoners were given company in the form of 5 and 10 km competitors. The crowd of more than 70 athletes of all ages was amazing. The 5 km race was dominated by Simon Batovsky (17) from Krupina, Slovakia, improved her personal best by almost a minute to 21:59. In the junior women's category, the Slovak Pernicka with a performance of 23:44 qualified for the U20 World Championships in Oregon next year and also for the U18 European Championships in Rieti. Pernicka is only 15 years old! Third place in the U18 category was taken by a Czech teenager, also 15 years old, Noemi Majak (27:04) and third in women was Frýdek Eliska Kokorova.
Big things were happening on the 10 km track. German junior Nick Joel Richardt Although he was a few seconds behind his personal best, the time of 41:23 still meant a great and confident victory for him. Another Slovak athlete improved his personal best by 2 minutes Jakub Batovsky and took third place overall Jakub Mažgút - 44:01. The representative of the organizing team did an amazing job. Junior Vojtěch Vejvančicky, who regularly meets the judges' targets in the Czech Republic, stood up to the international ones with a first place, not registering a single motion. With a very confident performance in the solo race, he finished with a negative split for a great personal record of 46:35 and claimed the junior national jersey for Poděbrady 2026. He cut more than a minute from the best Czech U20 performance of Dan Mochal from Liberec and took 7th place overall in the top ten. Bravo and big congratulations to the coach ReinAnother local fighter also did great. Stanislav Borisov from Kazakhstan, who wears the colors of AC Rumburk and surprised a lot with a time of 48:48. Stando, that's great! Even the Hradec Králové George Arnost was happy with his personal record, with a performance of 51:34 he managed to defeat the great Hungarian talent Ligeti.
The victory in the women's race was taken by a German woman. Mia Bandoli, who enjoyed a personal best and victory in the Central German Championship - 50:27. Another at the finish line, also a German athlete Mary Carries Carniel awarded 65 sec. She took the bronze to Erfurt Laura VöI asked.
Veterans also showed great performances and great fights, British fighter Steve Allen He fought hard in the last lap and overtook the Polish rider in the home straight. Mirek Luniewski (1:01:12 vs. 1:01:16).
And then there was the Czech Championship. The 0th edition of the Czech Half Marathon and Marathon Championships has been approved. When the organizers themselves found the condition of the ČAS Presidency that there must be at least 5 competitors in the category, it was clear that a problem was brewing. They were assured by TD Veverka that there would be no problem, competitors could register for both courses and then they would see each other. Despite the warning in the direction of the repre section, the condition did not change and so they waited with excitement to see what the applications would look like. Jarda Moravek, knowing the Czech conditions, preferred to register for the race directly via the organizer's website. She did the same Klimetová and Nedvídek. And they did well. 3 duplicate applications made a hell of a mess. What could have been handled with three phone calls in 15 minutes took almost 3 days despite the emergency. Yes, only on Wednesday did the organizers receive a decision on what would happen with the Czech Championships. They say everything is going well, only the women's half marathon is being cancelled. No, competitors really cannot do both courses when the penalty zone time and the start location are different... The organizational team was shuddering at the thought of defending the results list completely against the rules to World Athletics. One would have expected the ČAS technical delegate to know this. Fortunately, the head of the ČAS competition department knows the rules and so they waited for another decision. First, the half marathon was cancelled, competitors started registering for the race for their own and increased entry fees and another change was made. It's not a marathon like the Czech Championships, but a half marathon... This was exemplary Czech Schweinerei and the German colleagues were, to put it mildly, embarrassed. And those Czechs too...
So how did our athletes do? Among women, Ema Klimetová in time 1:43:03, which is an average of 4:53. She won 6th place overall and gained experience at a new distance. Elizabeth Frankl she ran 1:49.38 (avg. 5:11) and finished 12th among women.
Among the men, it was about medals. Well, not really, ČAS decided not to award medals. So the organizers gave out their own. The competitors deserved it. At first, the Czech group was led by a trio. The clear favorite Vítek Hlaváč, with him Lukáš Gdula a Albert Kukla. A couple followed them Nedvídek - Hanyk and then a fighter from Břeclava returning from injury Jarda Hawthorn, who felt the training deficit from the whole season a lot and Hradec Králové Rosta Kolar. Lukáš Gdula after 10km he started to lose, Welcome to Albert were fighting for victory. In the last quarter, there was a fight and at one moment one had a meter lead and then the other again. Less than 3 laps before the finish, he managed to Albert Kukla Increasing the pace, Vítka pulled, broke and finished for his first senior non-title title in a time of 1:33:07 (6th overall). Vitek Hlavac He finished 51 seconds behind for silver and experienced his first defeat in the championship competition on home soil since the incoming generation. Thank you, Vítek, for being a motivation for the boys! Lukáš Gdula crossed the finish line in third place, but was soon disqualified by the referee because the judges did not like his technique much in the last two rounds. And so he deservedly rejoiced at the bronze Martin Nedvídek from Rumbur (1:42:25), who dragged Hanyk away for most of the race, who tried to break him at 17km. And he shouldn't have done that, the acceleration didn't do him any good, he slowed down and one of the race organizers took care of it. He gave Hanyk 21 seconds at the finish and made the rest of the organizing team very happy.
And what happened at the marathon? A pair of Czechs set off Moravek - Bunny. It was Zajíček's first big long experience, Morávek already tried 35 km in Zittau last year and fought for a long time to participate in Tokyo this year. The Zittau race also showed how unfortunate it was that he did not get a wild card. Jarda Moravek He announced in advance that he wanted to go for a hard limit at the European Championships next year. As he said, he did. From the beginning, he kept the pace at the limit in cooperation with his Slovak coach Dominik Černý. From the 30th km he tried to accelerate and at the finish he was in 5th place, less than 20 seconds behind Ben Hlimou in a time of 3:08:10, which made him 3 minutes off the qualification limit and joined the already qualified Vítek! Fantastic performance. At the same time, he was the first Czech to secure a ticket to the World Team Walking Championships in Brazil in April. He also performed excellently on the track Adam Zaječek. It is clear that, unlike Jarda, he has no experience of the 35 km course. And yet he went great. 20 km before it became clear that the training deficit due to the season-long heel problems was not eliminated, but the experience was huge. Adam repeatedly tried to speed up and gained a solid basis for qualification next year. Time will tell whether we will have three marathon walkers at the European Championships. It would be great.
This year's Zittau was special in terms of the use of technology. The German referee, who also officiated on site, Kilian Wenzel created simple software for judges and the organizers decided to test it in the demanding conditions of the Zittau race, where there are a large number of starters and races are taking place on several distances at the same time. The system passed without a single error and was praised by everyone.
Unlike other systems, whose creators charge a lot of money, this one from Kilian is available for free. The organizer only had to invest in purchasing phones for all the judges, arrange the connection, and off they went. Kilian, bravo!
This year's Zittau race, included in the World Tour with a silver mark, was really successful. High-quality performances, a wide starting field, many friends at the start and among the spectators. Excellent stream presented by Adam Nedvídek and above all the dedicated work of all the organizers. A big thank you to the project Interreg and Euroregion NISA. It wouldn't be possible without you. Maybe again in a year at the signs in Žitav.
- Editor
Author of the article: Lucie Nekulová
Photo source: Miriam Stewartová, Jan Nekula
Photo sponsor: SMOLA KONSTRUKCE Ltd
Part of August and especially the September dates belong mainly to the final team competitions in Czech athletics. In addition to junior competitions, walking is included as part of all final rounds. A whole range of athletes have the opportunity to try walking at shorter distances and test their physique in our beautiful, but demanding, discipline.
It is not possible for us to cover all the final rounds, so let's at least take a look at the most interesting results.
The final of the extra league took place at the Vítkovice stadium on August 16.8. Both men and women ran 5000m.
12 men entered the race, only Morávek was missing from the absolute Czech top, who was preparing for the autumn part of the season in Livigno together with his Slovak training group at the time.
He set the pace in the race from the start Vitek Hlavacwhich he held on to from the first meters Lukáš Gdula and refused to let Vítek leave. After the first round, he disconnected Bunny with a Hat and each of them then continued independently. After the first kilometer, the leading pair already had an 8-second lead (4:02) and continued to increase their lead. Vítek only managed to slightly pull away from Gdula in the last two laps, but the gap was minimal. Vitek Hlavac brought full points to Kladno with a performance of 20:21.80 and crossed the finish line 3 seconds back in a performance of 20:24:06 Lukáš Gdula, who managed to improve his OR at the age of 34 on what was de facto a sprint distance for him. Congratulations. He took bronze Adam Zaječek already with a considerable gap. The interesting thing about the day was the start of the trainer Karel Ketner, who said goodbye to his extra league career. We will probably continue to see him on the walking tracks in the lower league competitions, but he decided to leave the top league.
Only 6 competitors entered the women's competition. She pushed the pace from the start Ema Klimentová, who quickly left Alžběta Franklová and showed a superb performance of 23:12.71. Elizabeth Frankl completed the race in an unremarkable performance of 25:10.40, the bronze went to the Pilsen team Michaela Baklikova at her last walking start under her maiden name. In the future, she will be (is) Mrs. Říhová. We congratulate the newlyweds and wish them much happiness as they walk through life together.
The most interesting performances of the final rounds undoubtedly include the race held on September 13.9th in Bílina. Duchcov athlete Jakub Weiss won in the new OR 14:00.62 and gave the visiting team full points. The race marked his successful streak, when he subsequently won the Czech Student Championship and at the start at MU in Kaposvár, Hungary, he not only won for the Czech Republic, but also shaved another 2 seconds off the time limit (13:58.10). Excellent work!
The Pardubice native finished in Bílina with a big gap of 3 minutes (17:01.91) at his first walking start. Martin Stedry, who subsequently won silver at the Czech Championships in a new personal record (16:53) and finished the race in 6th place at the MU in Kaposvár! Hopefully this versatile athlete will catch on, the results will motivate him and we will continue to see him at the start.
Among girls, she won in Bílina Aneta Hrochová from Dobruškawho managed to get under the 18min mark (17:54:55) before Adéla Hůlková from Ml. Boleslavy (18:38.57), who, as the youngest participant in the Bílina race, improved her personal record. Third at the finish line, Rozalia Kostelkova this time from Stará Boleslavy, then the young walker added almost a minute. At the final of the KPD of the younger students in Turnov, she attacked the 6 min limit - 12:01.42 at the shorter 2km distance. However, she can also do it under 12 min, at this year's Rumburk Walking Festival she reached the 12 min limit and gave 11:53! At the KPD in Turnov, 9 future walkers started. I wish walking would be included in competitions in every region!
The most interesting performance of the final competitions was definitely the one in Turnov, also on September 13.9th. The race was led from the beginning by Rumburk youth player Vojtěch Vejvančický. He shows that he is in great form in the second part of the season. After an excellent performance in the 10,000m in Monthey, Switzerland, where he showed this year's best U20 ten on the track - 48:18.60 (another teenager, Mochal, was faster on the road in Satalice), he won another personal title in Turnov. Performance 13:23.30 it is excellent.
Another teenager, Arnošt Slaměník from Duchcov, followed him with his first time under 14 minutes (13:50.54) in a quality personal record. Finished third Dan Mochal in 14:02:41. Mladá Boleslav also got under 15 minutes Mark Rösler - 14:50.62The Turnov men's competition was the highest quality of all the final competitions thanks to the performances of the juniors.
Vejvančicky Then he showed an excellent performance in the final of the regional competitions, where he started in the 5000m interspersed competition. From the first meters he took turns setting the pace with his teammate. Martin Nedvídekto snatch him 4 laps before the finish line and score another personal best - 22: 46: 19. With this performance, he qualified for the TOP SCM team and ranked second behind Mochal in the U20 5000m race walk standings. On the road, Plecháček managed to go a little faster in Dudince.
In Rumburk at KPD, the other men ran 3000m and the Jablonec man won. Matyas Drazan, still a student by age, in the new OR 17:15.07.
The example of Vejvančický shows how important it is to have walking as part of team competitions. In the past, the strategy of selecting individuals and working only with them was promoted here, instead of building a broader base. No one would have guessed that Vejvančický would be an aspirant of such times when he was a student. Hopefully, we will soon see walking appear more often on the track in all age categories.
- Editor
Czech Championship for Boys and Girls on the Track, 3.000m Walk, Mladá Boleslav, September 21, 2025
Author of the article: Lucie Nekulová
Photo source: Athletics Frýdek-Místek / Josef Nejezchleba
Last weekend, the Czech Student Championships took place at the Mladá Boleslav stadium, where Jan Železný grew up athletically. The walking races were on the program on Sunday. After the colder days, a big warm-up came, so it was not the easiest for the young fans of athletics, especially in endurance disciplines.
As is traditional, it wasn't just about the championship titles. The top 2 from each discipline received a nomination letter in Mladá Boleslav for the MU U 16, which will be held on September 27.09 in Kaposvár, Hungary, where teams from the Czech Republic, Croatia, Hungary, Slovakia and Slovenia will face each other.
The girls were the first to start. 31 competitors applied for the competition, 19 of them were selected for the TD. The biggest favorites were from Frýdek - Místek, Krasulová and Zvonková, through a short line The Mareds immediately took the lead in the race. Veronika Zvonkova She went after her own goal, after winning silver in the gym, she wanted to hang a gold medal around her neck and slowly built a lead over her training colleague. Adele KrasulováAt the finish line, she could rejoice in a new personal record of almost twenty seconds, when she was 1 set away from breaking the 17-minute mark - 17:01:35.
Adele Krasulova, who has a personal best of 16:30, although she fell significantly behind him (17:09:89), she won silver convincingly and can strive for a performance improvement in Hungary. It can be seen from the winter and spring races that her performance increases with the increasing number of starts.
After a great fight and a de facto 2-lap finish, the Pilsen walker won the bronze medal. Katerina Elblova, who improved her personal best from last year by half a minute to 17:21:41. She was driven to the finish by the fourth Opava Barbora Kristianova, who ultimately lost 8 seconds, but she also took home a nice OR from Boleslav. In fifth place was the Nymburk Ludmila Stepanova, who tried walking last year in the KP final (20:36) and improved dramatically this year, moving her OR to 17:34:46. Maybe next year a competitor from the nearby area could start in Poděbrady!
Three girls who are even younger than the students impressed with their starts, and the winner is 3 years older. The best of them was Alenka Kalubová from Rumbur, who started the race from last place, did not let it throw her off and gradually matured and collected one competitor after another, when at the finish she could rejoice in 9th place and an improvement in OR by one minute - 19:00:91. 19 seconds back in 11th place was the same old Frýdek pedestrian Melanie Macháčová, The third in the group of younger students is in 16th place. Emmička Viktorinová from Orlík VyškovGirls, keep it up and hopefully we'll see you on the walking trails.
The students started at 12:55. 12 walkers registered, 2 were eliminated by TD. The clear and only favorite of the race was Jakub Weiss from Duchcov. He showed a huge performance leap this year, when he improved to an excellent 14:00:62 in Bílina and was a clear candidate for the title. He also dominated the race from the beginning and in the warm weather he came to a convincing victory in his next time under 15 minutes - 14:43.91. The silver aspirant was from Pardubice Martin StedryHe tried walking for the first time on September 13.09th in Bílina at the Czech Championship of student teams, group B, he qualified for the Czech Championship and immediately finished the race in the new OR for the silver medal and a nomination letter for MU in the time of 16:51:09. He certainly pleased his coach Nejezchleb with the bronze medal and, most importantly, with the huge improvement. Josef KucharHe made his debut in walking this year with a time of 20:57 and improved to 16:53:17 at the Czech Championships. The other competitors were still quite a ways behind.
It is gratifying that there were no disqualifications in the boys' competition, although one female walker was excluded.
Let's also stop at the panel of judges. Although last year the group of international judges grew by a whole bunch of names, at the Czech Championship only František Párys was present in the role of competition manager. When we directly ask those who live in the vicinity of MB, we are surprisingly told that they were not even offered the opportunity to judge the Czech Championship. After all, the Czech Championship should primarily be judged by those with the highest erudition, but unfortunately that is not the case. And it is a shame, the mixing of international judges with regional ones should move the others forward. This is nothing against those who were present at the Czech Championship, but rather a surprise that the theoretically best in the judging basket is not primarily used for the Czech Championship. There is one more remark related to the judges. Fortunately, the times when some judges hid behind trees on the course and then triumphantly ran out with a target are a thing of the past. The senseless and undignified lying down on the track so that the referee can “see better” or rather show activity is perhaps also gone. Unfortunately, we still see clowning around the track on the topic of “look how actively I judge”. The referee cannot see better by leaning forward, squatting, etc. However, the people around him can see it and it looks… at least ridiculous. In the age of internet broadcasts and ubiquitous mobile phones, let's behave in these positions in a way that represents the discipline. If I don't see it from a normal position, I want to watch more videos and consult with those who don't have to perform such simple exercises.
Congratulations to all the athletes and their coaches for preparing for the races. Personal boundaries were broken and hopefully a large number of young walkers will last us for years to come. We will look forward to good performances from those who received a nomination letter for the weekend intermediate stage and we hope that their knees will not be knocked out by the rep jersey.
The judges and organizers deserve thanks for their dedication to athletics in their free time.
RANKINGS OF WINNERS 3.000m walk QUEENS (from left Krasulová, Czech Champion Zvonková 17:01.35, Elblová / STUDENTS (from left Štědrý, Czech Champion Weiss 14:43,91, Kuchař)
- Editor
The great Evan DUNFEE from Canada and the absolutely fascinating and invincible Spaniard Mária PÉREZ are the deserved World Champions 2025 in Tokyo in the 35km walk! Dominik ČERNÝ's 7th place completely shocked not only the whole of Slovakia, but the whole world and is literally becoming a dark horse of walking!!! BRAVO, BRAVO, BRAVO!!!! A fantastic race got people out of bed even long after midnight (CET). An ode to walking sport!!!
Author of the article: Lucie Nekulová
Source of all photos: Czech Athletics Association / Soňa Maléterová
The World Athletics Championships kicked off with the longest walking course on Saturday at 7:30 am.
So for the Japanese, we had to get up and if we wanted to enjoy the live broadcast, we got up after midnight. And those who got up could say that every minute in front of the TV was definitely worth it.
For the first time since the 2015 World Championships in Beijing, the walkers returned to the stadium for the start and finish. World record holder Stano was not at the start due to injury, and Pintado also withdrew. The biggest favorite was undoubtedly the Canadian record holder from Dudince DunfeeThere were no favorites among the women.
The joint start of men and women sent an impressive mass of walkers onto the course. A Slovak walker immediately took the lead in the race Dominik Cerny, who is known more to athletic connoisseurs. Or to those who go on social networks, but the question is who of them remembered the Budapest proposal. Rather, his dash forward raised more than one eyebrow and when he was subsequently overrun by a group of favorites, someone could say "so he literally has 5 minutes of fame behind him". Footbridge error!
None of the favorites were missing from the main group. After 10km, the Japanese decided to break up the eighteen-member group and went on the attack. The start Kawan and Katsuki the German favorite caught Lefties, who felt that a medal could be close. The trio quickly built up a lead of about 10 seconds and continued to increase it. At the tail of the chasing group was Karlstr.öm and at 14km he started to lose more significantly. After Paris, he didn't like the race in Tokyo either. He kept falling out of the group and coming back into it Bonfim, he didn't go too actively either Dunfee. Link The Japanese's pace didn't last long and after 4km he started to lose momentum. His place was taken by an Ecuadorian athlete HurtadoHe tried to pull it together. Dunfee and the Frenchman QuinionHe kept falling and catching up with his pursuers. Bonfin.
He attacked at 27 km Hurtado and quickly moved away from the pair of Japanese, when katsuki Hurtado's lead was short-lived, as he was pulled into the penalty zone within a single lap, where he waited 31/2 minutes and finished the race in 9th place.
At that time, the track was really starting to suffer a lot. The suffering Link to It just didn't work in this weather, but Quinion On his way to the bronze medal, he was stopped by cramps of such magnitude that the pain shot him upwards (see TV footage). How he managed to break this is a question, but he continued. 5km before the finish line, the struggling Dunfee got before Katsuki's and very quickly passed by Kawana. Even the home competitor could not stand the high humidity combined with the heat and began to have visibly serious health problems, and the sight of him was quite frightening at times.
3km before the finish line he had Dunfee lead over third Bonfina minute and it seemed that it was decided. But in the last lap, about 1km before the finish, the Canadian grabbed his back thigh, a moment later he was forced to stop, massaged the cramp and tried to cool his cramping leg with ice from a refreshment bar. The lead was getting thinner, but Bonfim he couldn't see it and that was definitely a big Canadian advantage.
Evan Dunfee He was the first to pass through the gate of the athletes and 300 m later he hung the gold medal around his neck. And as he himself said, he had never completed anything so terribly difficult. Performance 2:28:22. Perfect great Japanese revenge for Rio, where he was not quite decently overpowered by physical contact by the Japanese Arai and took the then not quite clean bronze. The silver went to the Brazilian Caius Bonfim 33 seconds back. Despite Kawano's total collapse, Japan could rejoice. The stadium roared when the bronze medalist entered the stadium through the athletes' gate Hayato Katsuki. The honor of the Chinese pedestrian school was saved in fourth place Zhou. The best of the European walkers was the incredibly suffering father of Olympic baby Charlie, Aurelien Quinion, who could not bend his leg in the last 100 m and, swaying on cramping legs, came out in tears of disappointment and pain. If someone is missing the Korean walker announced by the moderators in the list, then he did not finish the race. A mistake crept in.
He shocked with seventh place Dominik Černý from Slovakiawho ran the race of his life and finished behind the Spaniard Chamosa as the third of the Europeans. German Lefties finished 14th, 13 minutes behind his best performance this year! Poor guy Kawano He crossed the finish line in 18th place, and what happened next was really not pretty to look at. An excellent 20th place was taken by the oldest walker at the start, the indomitable Portuguese veteran Joao Vieira. The French champion said goodbye to his career in 21st place "Keke” Kevin Campion.
Czech walking was represented by a walker from Kladno Hello, Mr. Hlavac. Vítek qualified by fulfilling the TIME requirement in Poděbrady, where he set a national record of 2:31:44. Vítek was in the 30th-35th place from the start. After 20 km, he planned to pick up the stragglers, but unfortunately he was unable to accelerate, and the grueling conditions also turned him around. He finished the race in 31st place on very stiff legs, and he also slowly sank to the ground at the finish line. He is certainly not happy with the performance of 2:44:08, the truth is that others also had a blast in Tokyo. Some did not mind the weather, some managed to shake themselves off, some simply walked to the finish line like Karlström or Linke. The unfortunate Slovak walker Morvay was pulled off the track at a time when his health was at stake. It is simply not possible to evaluate a competitor's performance from the comfort of our couch, especially performance in Tokyo conditions.
It was interesting that the women handled the difficult conditions much better. Even there, an attentive spectator saw a few collapses, but even at the finish the women looked as if not much was happening. While the men's race was full of twists and turns and tension, the women demonstrated a better competition in terms of times, but the development was much more monotonous.
At the fifth kilometer, the group of biggest favorites was already significantly in the lead - Palmisano, Torres, Pérez, García León, Li Ma, and Li Peng. Pérez pulled away at times, but the women held together, the only one to drop out was Li Ma. 13 km before the finish line Perez managed to get by Garcia Leon and gradually the second of the Chinese pedestrians began to fall away Li Peng. A kilometer later, she pulled in Pérez again and no one could respond. Palmisano subsequently left Torres and it was decided.
Unbelievable Spanish woman Maria Perez managed to finish in 2:39:01 in extremely difficult conditions, less than 2 minutes behind her own world record! For comparison, Dunfee lost 7 minutes to her record performance from Dudince. I Antonella Palmisano he showed a top time - 2:42:24 (3 minutes behind his national record). Paula torres, the winner of this year's Dudince, even improved the national record - 2:42:44. Several personal records were broken, the Slovak Burzalova She had her second best performance of her career and finished in 12th place. Tokyo simply suited the women much better than the more robust men.
Unfortunately, no Czech walker was able to qualify.
The 35 km track ends its short life in the light of the ramps. In Tokyo, the pedestrians presented us with an amazing and exciting spectacle. The sad fact is the non-participation Jaromir Moravek. Although he passed the ranking and repeatedly demonstrated high performance, he did not meet the ČAS confirmation limit, and despite the appeal of many, the ČAS head coach rejected arguments regarding age and future potential and did not grant a wild card. Morávek would have learned a lot in Tokyo. Let's hope that this will not discourage Jarda and he will try to follow in Vítek's footsteps. Both of them will face a new marathon distance next year. We will hope that we will see more Czech walkers at the start at the European Championships. There is room for improvement. Among the men, there is Heads with Morávek Zajíček, the youngest of the Kukla party, returns to training with Martinkova, she showed a huge performance leap on the 20km track Klimentova and maybe they'll surprise you again Franklová.
But that's next year. Now we have a 20.9km battle on Saturday (September 20th) in the morning. Men and women will go separately this time, so it will be a long night. The 35km race showed that it will be worth it.
