She had never been to a live rowing regatta. At the end of May, the famous speed skater, the three-time Olympic winner Martina Sáblíková, would like to visit the European Championship in Račice. "If it works out, I'd come to support Ondřej Synek and others," she plans.
In the morning, the thermometer behind the window showed zero. In the middle of April Ondřej Synek, the biggest Czech championship medal hope at the European Championship, launched a new boat in national design for the first time on the water of the Elbe Arena in Račice. “Talking me into it? That will not happen, I know what I want to achieve," the 34-year-old fellow smiled.
When all counted, 915 participants from 33 countries is the latest total of the applications for the fast approaching European Championships in Labe Arena Račice.
The water surface reflecting the sun rays is being ripped by paddles and rowing oars. The noisy construction machines and workers are keeping the shoreline alive. Center of the water sports, known as the Labe Arena, already woke up to a spring time. The European Rowing Championship will begin in less than two months.
How could we make the time before a football match begins more interesting? Perhaps by competing on the rowing machine or by talking with Ondřej Synek, a single sculler silver medalist at the Olympic Games in Rio. All of that happened at the football stadium in Ústí nad Labem before the international match between the Czech Republic and Lithuania began.
