EKAG in an incredible atmosphere, with a flurry of EKAG records and national records.

After three days of competition among youth talents—an incredible 2,200 of whom came to Brno from seventeen European countries—the amazing atmosphere drove the youngsters to break an unbelievable nine EKAG records, while five national records were rewritten in Malta and Bulgaria.

The spectacular Saturday opening ceremony introduced our youth national team athletes to all participants: Adéla Tkáčová, Hanka Blažková and Ema Feilhauerová shared their medal experiences from the European U19 Championships, Vilém Stráský showed everyone his gold medal from the World University Games, and the highlight was race walker Tereza Ďurdiaková, 10th at the World Championships in Budapest, who demonstrated her race-walking technique over a 100 m straight to the packed stands. Exceptionally strong emotions were felt during the charity event, when Mr Jiří Kottas, representing the Premier Energy Foundation, together with a representative of the Moldovan Embassy, presented a project supporting 120 young participants at EKAG—and what an incredible wave of material support for youth athletics in Moldova was unleashed when Mr Kottas announced the donation drive: one bus was almost filled with athletics equipment, and a major donor was also our top athlete, Jakub Vadlejch. Everyone involved certainly deserves great thanks for the gifts for Moldovan athletics.

The competitions themselves saw an unbelievable number of entries—starters had no problem starting 30!!! races in a single category. In the long jump sector, officials measured more than six hundred jumps in qualification in one category for over two hundred female jumpers. All events made it through the incredible qualification sieve remarkably well, so enormous credit goes to the officials and especially to the technical crew, who, under the leadership of Ms Martina Špalková, delivered top-level coordination worthy of world-famous philharmonic orchestras. An enormous amount of data had to be processed by the competition office and its members led by the fantastic David Uhlíř. I would like to thank the entire organizing team for their excellent work.

In extremely strong competition, participants took home many personal bests, and this year we did not make a significant impact on the podium. Also, the large number of withdrawals shortly before the competition is not exactly a good calling card for the host club. The only medal for the host club was won by František Fruhwirt in the cricket ball throw with a performance of 49.83 m. Several of our members delivered solid performances: after long-term health problems, Adam Slavíček returned and, in very strong competition, achieved two final placings—6th place in the 60 m in 7.35 s, and the same placing in the long jump with 603 cm. Lukáš Halma also held his own over 300 m with a very decent 38.85 s, finishing 3rd in his race, and his new 60 m personal best of 7.83 s has its value as well. Patrik Horák also produced performances close to his personal bests and can be satisfied with his appearance, running 7.90 s for 60 m and 41.69 s for 300 m. In the younger categories, quality athletes are certainly coming through: for example Filip Novotný (born 2011) ran 8.89 s for 60 m; Matěj Šiška even made the B final with a personal best of 8.92 s and placed 5th in the high jump with 118 cm, adding a long jump personal best of 380 cm. All of our athletes who took part gained valuable experience for future competitions.

The incredible feedback from all participants and promises to return next year are already making me wonder how to limit—or at least keep under control—the numbers of entries. Without a doubt, this 18th edition had exceptionally high participation, but it also ran without any serious organizational issues—and that is the best possible reference for us organizers.

In conclusion, once again a big thank-you to the entire organizing team!!

Results can be found here…..