In Békéscsaba, Hungary, Jarda Morávek won not only the fight for the Czech 20km championship title in Poděbrady (MČR, Poděbrady, April 1, 26), but also the opportunity to start at the Olympics in Paris in the mixed team relay ( Marathon Race Walk Relay!!!
On Sunday 24.3. Hungarian Bécescaba hosted the pedestrian meeting. Pedestrians in Hungary were greeted by cold weather and strong winds. This race was also the Hungarian championship of different age categories. The shortest distance was 5 km U 16, then 20 km awaited the adult category.
A very traditional meeting would certainly deserve a higher participation. In addition to the local ones, some Romanian and Slovak competitors took part in the race. The Czech flag was not missing from the start list, it represented our colors Jaromir Moravian, a competitor from Pilsen, who is being trained by the Czech record holder for the 20 km distance, Jiří Malys.
The race in Dudince really didn't go well for Jard, who had a technical problem in the second half and came to Bécescaba for repairs.
Due to the low number of starters, Jarda went alone from the first meters. The leading group of Venyercsán - Hélebrandt - Tóth is still somewhere else in terms of performance, and Jarda sensibly ran his own race.
The pair Venyercsán - Hélebrandt soon Tóth was overtaken and at the finish line the competitors were separated by only 2 seconds. - 1:21:42/4. In the end, the obviously suffering Tóth, who we know thanks to last year's Hodinovka Pepa Smola, where he set a course record and 10 km sub 42 min, managed a significant OR - 1:23:23 and can look forward to the start of the EC in Rome with enthusiasm.
Moravek, 2 years younger, had 2 tasks ahead of him. Handle the strictly set bar of the judges and if possible try to meet the unofficial limit for the WC Walking Teams in Antalya (1:27:00). Yes, the official limit was not set, but the unofficial limit was definitely not set low. Although Morávek has an OR from last year's Espoo of 1:25:33, which is the best Czech performance in the U23 category, it is also the only performance when he got below the 1:27:00 mark, so he approached the limit with respect. Totally pointless. 10 km with an intermediate time of 42:30 suggested that the limit should not be a problem. The competitor was instructed to walk relaxed and save energy, which he fulfilled, he slowed down and at the finish line he could still rejoice at his second best performance of 1:26:18 and with an overview of the fulfilled limit.
The fact that most of the onlookers praised the significant improvement in the technical performance is also positive, and if Jarda keeps the settings from Hungary, we obviously have a lot to look forward to in Poděbrady.
The trio Hlaváč - Morávek - Zajíček (arranged alphabetically) will most likely offer us a wonderful fight not only for the Czech title, but also the opportunity to start in the relay with Eliška Martínková and fight for the Olympics.
By the way, the judges in Hungary were very active, the Romanian competitors preferred to withdraw from the race to avoid DQ, the first 3 competitors collected 1-2 cards and Moravek also received one red. However, his improvement was also evident on the improvised stream initiated by Nortbert Tóth on his Facebook.
After the past weekend, Martínková, Klimentová, Franklová, Hlaváč and Morávek should definitely start in Antalya. Zaječek has not yet met the limit, but his technically confident performance from Dudinci shows that even for him the limit should be a mere formality. No one would be surprised, and we would be very happy, if both young men would fight with the 1:25:00 mark this year and once again improve Moravka's best Czech performance in the U23 category last year. If Vít Hlaváč were to join them, who already improved his OR for 20 km just in Dudince (1:25:50), it would be a wonderful promise for the next EC in Poděbrady 2025.