Czech athletes take 14 medals from the European Youth Olympic Festival. Athletes shone especially

Banská Bystrica experienced a week full of sport, where young representatives from the Czech Republic were not lost in the great international event. This year’s European Youth Olympic Festival, EYOF for short, brought our team a total of 14 valuable metals.

From 24 to 30 July, 71 Czech athletes took part in the competitions. The top event for the age category from 14 to 18 years offered ten different sports, of which only basketball and handball did not have Czech representatives.

Of the eight sports, the most successful for the Czech Republic was the “Queen of Sports”, in which young hopefuls won 11 medals. Matyáš Zach in the 110m hurdles and long-distance runner Petr Meindlschmid won gold at the athletics stadium in the central Slovak town.

Silver went to discus thrower Natálie Fišerová, shot putter Karolína Machová and 2000 m steeplechase runners Karolína Jarošová and Jan Škarban.

The athletics bronze among the girls belonged to Viktoria Jánská in the long jump, Ester Parohová in the 100 m sprint and Zuzana Štejfová in the hammer throw. Among the boys, decathlete Milan Vích and javelin thrower Štěpán Šípek reached the third step.

Other valuable metals for the Czech Republic were gold for Jan Kumstát in the tennis singles, silver for Pavel Šumpík in the road cycling time trial and lastly the bronze for the volleyball team.

This collection earned the Czech team the final 15th place in the national ranking, which was dominated by Italy with 47 medals, 21 of them the most valuable. Host Slovakia was 21st thanks to two golds, one silver and three bronzes. Of the 48 participating countries, 39 won at least one precious metal.

The organisers were surprised by the great interest of the spectators. “We were captivated by the high attendance at the sports venues and fan zones with almost 150 thousand people. The EYOF has stirred up sports life not only in Banská Bystrica, but in the whole region,” said Peter Hamaj, the event’s executive director, to the EYOF website.

In 2023, the event will take place in Maribor, and after a two-year cycle it will move to Brno. The next winter festivals will be organised by Friuli Venezia Giulia in Italy and Borjomi and Bakuriani in Georgia.

Source: EYOF, Czech Olympic Team