Meanwhile, the European Olympic Triathlon Championships, won by Filip Ospalý in 2001, could also take place in Karlovy Vary in the coming years. “The president of the European Triathlon, Renato Bertrandi, approached me saying that he would like the European Championships to return to Karlovy Vary,” says Antonín Bauer, chairman of the Czech Triathlon Association. “We know it would suit the Czech Republic. That’s why I immediately approached The World Triathlon sporting director Markus Gergely about whether it would be possible to organise not the World Cup one year, but the European Championship, and then return to the World Cup. Given the great name Karlovy Vary already has, he said it wouldn’t be a problem. But now we have to address this with the race organiser and look for ways to secure funding, which would mean putting the race on the list of Major Sporting Events of Particular Importance. It is a long-term project that we would work on for approximately five years.

Successful entry to the season

Although the international season is only just beginning, the Czech triathletes have already achieved several successes. The most significant one was credited to Lukas Kočař, who produced two great performances in three days. In Ibiza, he first won silver at the World Off-Road Triathlon Championships, then placed 12th at the World Long Triathlon Championships.

“It’s a great result for me. I gave myself a medal as a goal, which I did, so I have to be happy. But I’m still sorry that I didn’t swim a little bit better in that race, then maybe I could have won,” said Kočař, who is now just short of the World Championships collection of gold. “I’ll probably try again,” says the Czech representative with a smile.

The Czech Triathlon Association has also achieved extraordinary success off the race track – referee Petr Mužíček was nominated for the Olympic Games in Paris, Gabriela Rakova will take part in the European Games as a referee.”The Czech referees have reached a level where they are respected and respected. They managed to enter abroad at the same time, where we were moved by lessons with foreign lecturers and referees especially at the World Cup in Karlovy Vary. And the political plane has stepped in because we have been active in these matters for a long time with the international associations World and Europe Triathlon,” antonin Bauer finds the reasons for this success.

The domestic season will offer new events as well as racing formats

The home triathlon season, which will also be very colourful this year, will be in full swing this weekend. Competitors can participate in three cup series in total – the Czech Cup in long triathlon, the Czech Cup in short triathlon and the Czech Cup in field triathlon. They will cover a total of 20 races ranging from the shortest at super sprint distances to long triathlons at the iconic distances of 3.8 km swimming, 180 km cycling and 42 km running. The prelude to these competitions has already been the Czech Cup in aquatlon, which took place in the winter months.

Triathletes can look forward to completely new cup races and formats. For the first time ever, a spectator-attractive eliminator will take place in the Czech Republic, which has gained a lot of popularity in the world championship series (WTCS). Triathletes can try this fun racing format in Trutnov, where the Czech Cup kicks off in a short triathlon on June 10.

The new race on the Czech Cup calendar in the off-road triathlon will be the very popular ValachyMan, in which czech titles will be raced on the Bystřička water tank, but also for slots at the XTERRA World Commercial Series Championships. The highlight of this cup will then be the dusty XTERRA CZECH, which will take place as the world cup of this series.

JK