The Czech team for Poděbrady has four names
The European Team Race Walking Championships in Poděbrady will take place in eleven days and we know the Czech line-up that will represent the host country at this championship. Czech colors will be defended by four walkers.
The most experienced member of the Czech team is the two-time Olympian and participant in the World and European Championships Vít Hlaváč. For him, this will be his fourth start at the European Team Race Walking Championships. He first appeared there six years ago in Alytus, Lithuania, where he finished 39th in the 20-kilometer race. Two years later, he improved by four places in the same distance in Poděbrady. His best finish so far was again at the Spa Colonnade in the 2023 season, when he finished the 35-kilometer race in twenty-seventh place. However, that was a race that he struggled with significantly, so his ambitions for this year's edition will certainly be higher. Hlaváč already has one 35 kilometres race under his belt this season. He competed in Dudince in March in time 2:33:47. Later Vít won his fifth Czech title in a row in the 20 kilometres race in Olomouc.
However, Hlaváč will not be the only home racer in the men's 35-kilometer field. Jaromír Morávek will also be competing in this distance. He recently made a new personal best of 2:36:42 in Dudince and took silver in the national championship in the 20-kilometer race in Olomouc behind the victorious Hlaváč. He also managed to qualify for the European U23 Championships in Bergen, Norway this year. He will compete in the European Team Race Walking Championships for the third time. He made his successful debut in 2021, when he finished in fifth place in the U20 category. Two years later, he took 27th place in the 20-kilometer race. Now he will try the longest possible distance in this event.
The Czech nomination also includes two other successful limiters for Bergen. Adam Zajíček, who finished twenty-third at the last European Team Race Walking Championship, will stand at the starting line of the men's 20-kilometer race. On the same women's course, the home team will be Ema Klimentová. She won her first title of Czech Republic champion in the 20 kilometres this year and she also has experience from this championship. Two years ago, she finished in Poděbrady among U20 category, just below the podium, in fourth place, missing only eleven seconds from a medal.