Five medals for the Czechs from the World Championships

Czech canoeists and kayakers managed to win five medals this weekend during the finals of the World Championships in Troja. They thus got the same number of medals as three years ago and confirmed that the Czech Republic belongs to the world top in this sport. The total number of medals won by the Czechs was exceeded only by the French.

The medals include two gold ones for Volf and Stepanek who were a great hope mainly after their perfect qualification. Their time was more than 2 seconds better than that of the German runners-up Becker and Henze. The bronze medal went to the Olympic winners Hochschorners from Slovakia. Stepanek and Volf have already bronze from the Olympic games, silver from the World Championships and they also won gold medals from European Championships. Being best in the world and getting the medals at home thus perfectly completes their impressive collection.

Volf and Stepanek praised the support from the watchers. On the other hand, Stepanka Hilgertova, who was laid the greatest hopes on, ended up on the fifth place. She was really disappointed and complained that she could not properly concentrate. The gold went to Jana Dukatova from Slovakia who deserved the victory given her perfect skills.

Canoeist Jezek ended up as third and won deservedly the bronze medal. This was seen as a remarkable achievement given he was starting in the finals from the sixth position. Jezek also admitted he doubted his chances to win a medal. His best placing before this weekend was the tenth place from the same competition last year. His celebrations were mixed with lots of work such as repairs of the wireless network. Jezek namely also actively helped with the organization of the championships – concretely with the IT.