Two Czech national championships are held each season as part of the Czech Winter Swimming Cup. The first, in freestyle, took place on Saturday 8 February at its usual venue in Brno. I. PKO’s swimmers brought home six medals. Although that was slightly fewer than last year, it was enough to retain second place in the club medal table.
As usual, the championships began with the junior 100 metres, which brought our first medal: David Sebera took silver in the boys’ event.
Next came the women’s main-category 750 metres. Unlike last year, we had representatives here too: Tereza Reichová and Radka Srbová finished next to one another in seventh and eighth.
Last year, the men’s main-category 750 metres was almost an I. PKO club championship, with a few visiting extras, as we swept the medals. This year, none of those medallists, and few of our other previous entrants, made the start. Championship newcomer Tomáš Pilát upheld our honour with fifth place. Adolf Goebel finished seventh and Marek Grzywa eleventh.
The men’s Masters A 750 metres brought success. On the first of three laps, Jakub Valníček refused to be drawn into Robert Šupa’s almost reckless opening pace and swam his own race. The tactic paid off: on lap two he easily erased the deficit, passed the tiring local swimmer and took the lead. By the end of lap three he was nearly forty seconds clear and claimed the title. Leszek Naziemiec and Zdeněk Tlamicha battled Plzeň’s Tomáš Kocánek for third. Zdeněk, last year’s national champion in this category, eventually took bronze. Leszek finished fifth, while Josef Stolín completed our line-up in twelfth.
Our next appearance was in the women’s Masters A 500 metres, where Barbora Fleissigová finished fourth.
The women’s Masters B swimmers also raced 500 metres. Our trio, Dana Tomášková, Alena Juřenová and Eva Havlíková, finished in that order in fifth, sixth and seventh.
The third 500-metre event, men’s Masters C, brought our second title, won by Richard Haan. Vladimír Kolář took fourth.
The women’s Masters C event was over 250 metres, and we won another medal as Marie Štanglová finished second.
Our sixth and final medal went to Lubomír Valenta, third in the men’s Masters D 250 metres.
Overall, these were successful championships. The second national championships, in breaststroke, will be held on Saturday 1 March at Prague’s Podolí Swimming Stadium. Besides competing in the pool, we will also be organising the races.