Portyk wins poll as best Czech Nordic Combined athlete for fourth time

The eleventh edition of the Czech Ski Association’s Best Athlete and Coach of the Year in Nordic Combined has a well-known winner in the main senior category. 23-year-old Tomáš Portyk won for the fourth time in a row. Among the junior athletes, the wins went to David Zemek and Tereza Koldovská dominated the women's category. Junior coach and former athlete Martin Zeman won the title of the most successful coach.

The ranking of the poll was announced by the Nordic Combination Division of the Czech Ski Association of the Czech Republic. Since the 2008–2009 season, the winners have been determined by the votes of the competitors themselves, coaches, officials, ski experts and journalists.

“Although the last winter season was not particularly successful in terms of the results of Czech athletes and we have no reason to celebrate it, we did not want to break the tradition of this poll. However, I firmly believe that the failures of this winter will be a lesson and a great motivation for the next season for all the representatives and the team staff. We definitely have talented athletes, for they are among the former junior world champions as well as other medalists”, Radek Cikl, Chairman of the Nordic Combined Division of SLČR said.

In the senior category, Tomáš Portyk’s reign started in 2015-2016. Last November he had an excellent start in the World Cup in Ruka, Finland, where he finished fourth. But then his performances were fluctuating and he was struggling to get repeat with good results.

For the third time in the poll, the best woman was also elected. After two victories of Simona Weinlich, Tereza Koldovská, a fifteen-year-old from Ski Club Harrachov, won this time.