Danek and Kodolvska are Czechias National Champions

The national championship weekend in Czechia ended with Lukas Danek defending his title on the K70, while Tereza Koldovska won the women’s competition. Jan John conquered the junior title, and Jachym Hrdina won the ranking in the adolescent category. Among the youngster, Jiri Kubalák took the victory.

The youngest category in which the athletes competed for championship titles was for boys aged 13 and 14.

Jiri Kubalak (63.5 m) went into the race with a lead of 5 seconds over the second Marko Hradil (61 m). 
Kubalák showed a strong race and reached the finish first after 4 km in 13:48.5 min. Hradil crossed the finish line 30 sec behind, while Martin Balatka took the third rank (+1:42 min).

The women's race was much less predictable. Jolana Hradilova (55.5 m) took the first place after the jumping part (75.1 pts,) but Tereza Koldovska (50.5 m) and Barbora Stepankova (52 m) went into the race only 16 seconds behind.

After Koldovska's disappointing jump, an interesting drama for the running part unfolded. Hradilova's cold, which had just subsided, made itself felt, so that Koldovska secured the national title ahead of her team mate (+429 sec). Third place was taken by Julie Osmerova (1:51 min).

"I'm not satisfied, I'm quite disappointed with the jump. That was a tragedy. I'm happy for the victory, but not with the jump. I'm doing well in training, but then the race comes and I'm off," Koldovska described her mixed feelings.

Jachym Hrdina (65.5 m) secured the adolescent title already with his jump. 104.6 points gave him a lead of a 1:49 min over Josef Buchar (54.5 m) on rank two, so that the second part of the competition was more of a formality.

Hrdina whizzed through the 6 km course in 20:32.5 min, while his teammate from Lomnice nad Popelkou, Josef Buchar (+2:25 min), defended his second rank, ahead of Dominik Lukes (2:35 min).

The junior category was dominated by Jan John (61 m). 
Radim Sudek jumped three meters further, but lost some points in the landing which lead to him starting the 10 km race, 2 seconds behind. 
Despite the small distance, Sudek couldn’t keep up with the high pace of the leader and John secured the Czech national title confidently with a 3:01 min lead. 
The third place was taken by Jan Kabelac (+5:45 min).

"The jumps went well and I'm also satisfied with the run. Unfortunately, we have a lot of people in the team, so only three of the original seven competitors started, so I was a bit relieved," John said afterwards.

In the adult category Tomas Portyk took advantage of the competition on home soil and took the lead after the Ski Jumping round with 72 meters. 
The second place went to Lukas Danek, defender of last year's championship, with 71.5 m, while Matej Fadrhons (68.5 m) ranked third on the hill.

During the race, Portyk couldn’t defend his lead and fell back on rank 3, 32.7 seconds behind. 
Meanwhile, Jan Vyrtal showed a strong performance on roller skis and fought his way up to the podium, after being 4th in the jumping competition. 
In a tight finish sprint Vyrtal (+0.5 sec) lost against Danek, who crossed the finish line half a second faster and could celebrate his championship defense.

"This title is important to me! I had some problems in the last months and changed my preparation. I felt more tired, because I had a cold ten days ago. I didn't know what to expect from myself, but in the end it feels good," said Danek after his victory.

Source and original article: Czech Ski Federation 
Results: Czech National Championships 2022