On Sunday, February 12, 2023, the Prague Olymp Hall welcomed the first competition of the year for the pedestrian championship titles.
Expectations from the race were high, as the ongoing indoor season brought a whole series of personal records. In the end, 55 competitors took part in the race, two competitors were disqualified and one female pedestrian did not finish the race.
Before the start of the first race, a flower was placed on the track in honor of the late coach Mudr. Peter Brandejský, whose memory was honored by pedestrians with a symbolic minute of silence.
Among the students, last year's champion clearly reigned from the first meters, walking beautifully and stylishly Victoria Bartoňová (tr. Nejezchleba, TJ Slezan Frýdek-Místek). She ran her race from the first meters and confidently ran for her next championship medal. However, the time of 16:48 is 41 seconds worse than her performance last year. The very first race thus indicated the trend of the entire championship, when in general (with some exceptions) not even ORs or season highs were achieved, many competitors then significantly fell short of the performances of 2022. The pair Petrušková - Říhová (tr. Nejezchleba, tr. Nejezchleba, TJ Slezan Frýdek-Místek), while Aneta Otradovská (tr. Dušek, SAK Rumburk) pedaled cautiously at her first start this year, up to 10 seconds back completely outside the medal positions. Three laps before the finish line, however, she began to reduce the lead of the Frýdek-Místěk girls and won the silver just ahead of the finishing Petrušková. Personal records were set by Veronika Zvonková in fifth, Viktorie Vaňková in sixth (both tr. Nejezchleba, TJ Slezan Frýdek-Místek) and Aneta Dojčárová (tr. Malysa, AK ŠKODA Plzeň) seventh.
As expected, she clearly reigned among the teenagers Adela Pittner (tr. Piták/Maternová, SK Vrchlabí SMOLA KONSTRUKCE). She took the lead in the first meters and flew the first 200m under 50s. The first kilometer in 4:36 looked promising, but the burned-out first third of the race began to show in the more tired performance of the competitor. In the end, she crossed the finish line in 15:31, significantly falling short of expectations. There was no doubt about the other two medals, Eliška Kokořová (tr. Nejezchleba, TJ Slezan Frýdek-Místek) and Ludmila Kozlová (tr. Pilát, Atletika Prachatice) clearly went for them, with a large distance to the winner.
The joint race of schoolgirls and teenagers was really nice to see. Most of the female competitors showed a well-mastered walking technique and an active competitive expression.
In the category of juniors, a big fight was expected between Alžběta Franklová and Emma Klimentová, a participant of last year's EC in Jerusalem. Ema Klimentovová led the first 7 laps, but literally carried her opponent on her back. She attacked in the eighth round and immediately gained a significant lead over the more tired-looking Ema Klimentová.
Elizabeth Frankl (tr. Čermáková/Korbel, SK Jeseniova) confidently achieved a time well under 15 minutes - 14:43 and was only 2022 seconds behind the OR from Silvestrovská hall 12. The silver medal was hung around the neck by Ema Klimentová (tr. Čermáková, AK Šternberk). There was probably no one in the hall who, after last year's difficult and understandable case, did not wish the bronze medal to Lucia Krinwaldová (tr. Šolc, AC Mladá Boleslav). osobák and she was only 2021 seconds behind the indoor one from 11. Hats off to her love for our discipline, probably no one would be surprised if she stopped walking last year. Bravo. She showed the indoor maximum and the attack of the absolute OR from 2020 fourth at the finish line Tereza Pittnerová (tr. Piták/Maternová, SK Vrchlabí SMOLA KONSTRUKCE).
In the end, the main favorite Tereza Ďurdiaková did not start in the women's race due to ill health. So the fight for gold remained open and things were happening! Last year's junior champion Klára Hlaváčová stormed into the race, for whom Johana Petříková fought for another personal record this season. However, after 4 laps, the race was gradually taken over by a veteran woman Štěpánka Pohlová - Kučerová (tr. Hlavenka, TJ Sokol Hradec Králové). This working mother distanced herself from her rivals with every step and went for her first championship title, when she came close to her pre-parental OR from 15 with a performance of 12,70:11 in 2020s. Amazing. Klára Hlaváčová (tr. Čermáková, AC TEPO Kladno) took second place with a performance far beyond last year's time, who defended the silver medal against the chasing Johana Petříková (Spartak Prague 4). She got close to her 3-week-old baby for a single second. She symbolically dedicated her medal to the deceased coach Brandejska. AK Škoda Plzeň racers Bugárová - Bakliková (tr. Malysa) fell short of this season's OR, but still confirmed their performance progress.
In the pupils' race, we witnessed a beautiful fight Dana Mochal (tr. Párys, AC Slovan Liberec) with Ondřej Plecháček (tr. Krištof, AC Turnov). Competitors continuously fought for the lead in the race, but at the finish line of 2000m, Mochal already started to gain the upper hand, and to the joy of the race commentator František Párys, he won the championship title, a great personal record, and for the first time in his short walking career, he broke the 15-minute mark - 14:45.59 . Ondra Plecháček resisted the barrier of 15 minutes by 2,5 seconds, but he can still enjoy the personal record and above all the hard-fought silver medal. The bronze is well-deservedly won after a great performance, when Marek Rösler (tr.Prückner, AC Mladá Boleslav), who finished eighth last year at the MČR in 16:20, was able to reach 40 minutes for the first time!
The teenagers already competed at a distance of 5000m, and in addition to the performance of the winner, one could not help but feel that the competitors were a little afraid of the length of the course. Vojtěch Novák (tr. Nejezchleba), another pupil from the Frýdek-Místeck hatchery, was absolutely fearless with his performance, but he was almost 1 minute behind his performance in January. Another medal was fought for just under the 30-minute mark. Matěj Bělohlav (tr. Strnad/Král, AC Pardubice) came close to his absolute OR, when he beat the sharply finishing prize winner Vojtěch Peroutka (tr. Javůrek, Svoboda, TJ Dukla) by 3 tenths.
Compared to previous years, the teenagers presented themselves with a very solidly mastered technique, but they mainly lacked swing and energy.
The junior race, where only three walkers entered, was a battle Roman Hanyk (tr. Šnajdr, AC Turnov) with Albert Kukla (tr. Korbel, SK Jeseniova), who together set the pace of the race. 8 laps before the finish line, Hanyk, a year older, started to pull away from Kukla and not only achieved the championship title, but also a personal record under 24 minutes - 23:54.71. Albert Kukla went for silver in another indoor time under 25 minutes, and Matěj Nejedlý (tr. Novák/Rybák, SK Čtyři Dvory České Budějovice) will take the bronze medal to the south of Bohemia.
The highly anticipated race was the men's 5000m competition. Last year's junior duo Zajíček - Morávek challenged Olympians Hlaváč - Gdula to a duel and that it was a royal duel. Immediately after the start, the main favorite of the race took the lead Vit Hlaváč (tr. Větrovcvá, AC TEPO Kladno), followed by Lukáš Gdula (tr. Čermáková, Hvězda Pardubice) and a post-junior pair. Morávek (new tr. Ketner, AK ŠKODA Plzeň) gradually began to drop out of it. Adam Zajíček (tr. Ketner, Atletika Poruba) held third place. He gradually lost up to 10 seconds to the leading pair. At the 1800m finish line, he started losing to Hlaváč Gdul, who was overtaken by the struggling Zajíček 3 laps before the finish line. At that moment, Gdula was only fourth, as the sharply attacking Moravek returned to the race, gradually overtaking both his rivals. The chasing race turned out to be fatal for him and he was disqualified less than a kilometer before the finish line. Vít Hlaváč had been waiting for a long time to see if he could break the 20-minute mark again. However, on the fourth kilometer, when he was losing almost 10 seconds, it was already clear that he would not break the four-minute pace this time. Hlaváč ran out for a clear victory in a time of 20:17.63. The second place was also taken by the new OR Adam Zajíček - 20:34.03 and Lukáš Gdula finished for the bronze medal in 20:41.46. The season's maximum was achieved by the fourth Rostislav Kolář (SK Hranice), who this time significantly beat the returning Nedvídek (AC Rumburk) from a ski vacation. He was 3s behind the season high. Sixth Alexandr Malysa (VSK University Brno) also improved the season's maximum.
This year's championship race certainly showed that walking belongs in the hall. For competitors, it is a quick diversion in the long winter preparation. The technical certainty of most competitors was pleasing. The race traditionally clashed with the dates of the spring holidays, and many male and female competitors came to the hall directly from their skis, in the case of the national team, many young competitors and our elite men returned just before the race from training stays in Cyprus and Spain. This too can be seen as the cause of the sometimes more tired speech and performances beyond the limits of personal records.
All that remains is to wish the competitors and coaches many fast kilometers in the coming weeks, the summer season is just around the corner.