UPDATED WITH I. PKO SWIMMERS’ ACHIEVEMENTS IN 2012/2013
I. PKO swimmers’ achievements in 2012/2013, PDF
First of all, this was a highly successful season for our club. After many years, we once again have the overall individual winner of the Czech Winter Swimming Cup: Petr Tomášek, who narrowly finished second last year. This year he deservedly claimed his first overall victory. Petr’s win is all the more valuable because the final results listed a record 580 swimmers. Such an outstanding result did not come easily. Competition was strong again, and the battle continued to the very last race. The drama was heightened by almost consistently ideal weather: icy water still offered plenty of points even towards the season’s end. Petr started very well but soon lost his lead after missing several competitions. Aneta Lokajová of Univerzita Brno then led through the season, pursued by last year’s winner — and the only swimmer to beat Petr then — Eliška Novotná of FIDES Brno. Only towards the end did eventual winner Petr Tomášek catch them again. Not far behind on points were our fellow member Petr Hubal and Iveta Nováková of Pardubice’s SCPAP.
Petr’s victory was far from our only success. We swept all three medals in the men’s category: overall Cup winner Petr Tomášek took gold, Petr Hubal silver and Artur Kubica bronze. Our fine results did not stop there. In the top fifteen were Leszek Naziemiec fifth, Adolf Goebel sixth, Lukasz Tkacz seventh, Jack Bright tenth, Marek Grzywa eleventh and Tomáš Prokop fifteenth.
It was also pleasing to see success in the youngest, junior category, where our youngster David Sebera took a very fine second place.
Our women were not to be outdone, with four finishing in the top fifteen. Closest to the medals were Radmila Srbová in sixth, Tereza Reichová seventh, Magdaléna Zárubová eighth and Taťána Prokopová fifteenth.
Our more mature swimmers also competed very successfully in the Masters categories. Among men aged 40–49, Zdeněk Tlamicha defended last year’s title, joined in the top fifteen by Martin Ullwer in tenth and Pavel Houžvička in fourteenth. Among women, Barbora Fleissigová was seventh and Dana Tomášková tenth.
In the 50–59 category, Miloslav Klimek finished fourteenth among men. Our women did very well: Irena Lichá fourth, Eva Havlíková fifth, Alena Juřenová sixth, Viera Hoštáková tenth, Jarmila Pokorná eleventh and Jarmila Bohatová fourteenth.
Among men aged 60–69, Richard Haan took silver, Vladimír Kolář was fourth, František Kosař fifth, Miroslav Hess eighth and Petr Novák twelfth. Before Petr Tomášek, František had been our last and only winner of what was then the Czechoslovak Winter Swimming Cup, all the way back in the 1976/1977 season. We had no women in this category.
In the over-69 category, our Michael Štěpán was the clear winner. Lubomír Valenta finished fourth, Oldřich Pospíšil seventh, Petr Kreuz twelfth and Zdeněk Lipovský thirteenth. Among women, Božena Černá earned an excellent third place, immediately followed by Ilona Petrová in fourth.
In the overall club Cup standings, we defended second place, as in previous seasons.
That is still far from the end of our members’ achievements. We also enjoyed outstanding results at the two Czech Championships. The first, held in Brno on 9 February 2013 over 750 and 500 metres freestyle, brought a harvest of medals across the age categories. We swept the men’s podium: Petr Tomášek won, with Petr Hubal second and Artur Kubica third. Zdeněk Tlamicha again became Czech champion in men’s Masters A. Women’s Masters B brought silver for Irena Lichá and bronze for Eva Havlíková. We achieved the same in men’s Masters C, with Richard Haan second and Petr Novák third, and Masters D, with Michael Štěpán and Lubomír Valenta.
We also did well at the 2013 Czech Breaststroke Championships, held for the first time at Prague-Podolí’s pool on 3 March. Judge for yourselves. Leszek Naziemiec won the men’s title, closely followed by Łukasz Tkacz, with Adolf Goebel fourth, Artur Kubica fifth and Marek Grzywa seventh. In the women’s category, Tereza Reichová and Radmila Srbová finished just outside the medals in fourth and fifth. In men’s Masters A, Zdeněk Tlamicha became Czech champion and Pavel Houžvička took bronze. Barbora Fleissigová represented the women in this category with fifth place. Our Masters B women finished consecutively from third: Viera Hoštáková, Irena Lichá and Eva Havlíková. As at the freestyle championships, men’s Masters C brought silver for Richard Haan and bronze for Vladimír Kolář, while Masters D brought second for Lubomír Valenta and third for Michael Štěpán. Our final Czech title came in women’s Masters D from long-standing club standard-bearer Božena Černá.
A huge thank you to all our active members for this demanding season: both those who achieved success and those who supported our preparations in many different ways, providing the essential foundations without which such results would be difficult to achieve.