How I saw it….
The 2025 season was, in terms of the achievements of Czech glider pilots — and especially the women — one of the most successful in history.
Four major competitions awaited us: two European Championships and two World Championships. All of these competitions were nearby, and we even hosted two of them in Czechia.
After spring competitions at home and in Slovakia, which most national team members attend, we met at the joint Czech and Slovak Championship in late May in Havlíčkův Brod. This was the last opportunity for nominated pilots to fly together before the start of the international season. Immediately after the national championship, some pilots moved to Tábor, the venue of the World Gliding Championships in light classes.
We nominated the full number of competitors possible — six, plus reigning World Champion Barča Moravcová. We were also represented by:
We didn't perform as well as expected. None of the classes managed to build on the successful performance at EGC 2024, also held in Tábor, which most of these pilots had attended. The Standard class looked most promising, but the final days spoiled it. Unfortunately, Barča didn't finish the competition for family reasons.
My thanks go to Jana Vepřeková, who excelled as team captain here, as she did later at the WWGC in Zbraslavice.
After a few days' break, attention turned to Slovakia, where the Junior European Gliding Championships were held in Prievidza. Again, we fielded a full squad of seasoned junior competitors — six, including two women, who competed for medals in two classes.
We won the team competition convincingly and deservedly took the gold medal. I would like to highlight the excellent work of the ground crew led by the experienced Lukáš Hynek, which I saw firsthand during my two-day visit at the end of the competition.
Unfortunately, the one black mark was Vít Mořkovský's inability to manage his nerves, which I witnessed personally during the last task. I believe this cost Míša Křížová, who flew this competition brilliantly, a medal.
The junior events in Prievidza were followed by two more competitions that unfortunately ran simultaneously — the European Gliding Championships in heavy classes in Békéscsaba, Hungary, and the Women's World Gliding Championships in Zbraslavice.
Open class results were affected by using JS-1 gliders, which can no longer keep up with the EB 29, and by our pair not having flown together enough. A similar problem was faced by our 18m pair — Radek and Jirka, who was paying the price of being a newcomer at a European competition.
Radek fared better here, staying in the top ten overall until the last task. Unfortunately, a late departure on the final day pushed him to 13th. The 20m class also failed to deliver. Neither crew managed to fly well enough to achieve success on any single competition day.
This was a dream competition for our team. Despite the predominantly challenging weather conditions, all three classes were dominated by our pilots.
In the 18m class, Alena reigned supreme in cooperation with other team members, especially the superbly flying Míša Rendlová, who lost the silver medal due to one mistake in the second task, ending up with "just" bronze. The Trešlová sisters also unfortunately lost their chance at a medal on the third competition day.
In Standard, Barča was defending her title. After an excellent start, the fifth task unfortunately pushed her off the podium. Yet she managed to fly for her "sis" Káďa for the rest of the competition and help her to victory — which I honestly hadn't expected, especially given her competition break. Petra Pískatá flew Standard class for the first time and delivered an outstanding performance considering how little she trains. Unfortunately, experienced Dana Nováková was absent from this class due to health reasons.
In Club class, the fairly well-coordinated pair of Míša and Terka was joined by "rookie" Katka, who handled her debut very well — her 8th place was a pleasant surprise for me. Terka anchored herself in first place from the third task and never let go. Míša fought her way to another medal at the end of the competition — bronze this time.
On top of all these individual medals came the team gold.