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A special Emil Zátopek themed run was held in Brussels this Saturday to mark the occasion of the Czech Republic assuming its six month presidency of the Council of the European Union. Called the “Friendship Run in Pairs”, the race took at the Trois Tilleuls stadium in the Watermael-Boitsfort district with around 400 runners taking part. It honoured the relationship between Zátopek and his great French competitor Alain Mimoun.

Ambassador Edita Hrdá, the Permanent Representative of the Czech Republic to the EU and Ambassador Philippe Leglise-Costa, the Permanent Representative of France to the EU, started the race, with the latter also handing over a symbolic EU presidency baton to Ms Hrdá. France held the EU presidency from January to June of 2022. Ms Hrdá praised France's work at the helm of the Council of the EU which was marked by Russia's invasion of Ukraine and associated economic challenges for Europe. The French ambassador wished his Czech colleagues the best of luck during their country's presidency.

Several accompanying events tok place alongside the main race, including a smaller 400m run for children and an exhibition on the various regions of the Czech Republic. The whole event ended with the screening of the 2021 Czech biographical film Zátopek.

Sunday is expected to see sunny weather with temperatures ranging around 28 degrees Celsius.

All 2.4 TWh of the gas that was purchased by the State Material Reserves Administration (SSHR) upon an order by the Czech government is now stored in the country’s gas tanks, SSHR Chairman Pavel Švagr announced on Saturday. This means that the country’s gas reserves are now filled up at two thirds of total capacity. The cost of the purchase, including VAT, transport and storage for the next 11 months, was CZK 8.5 billion.

The gas was bought in order to increase the energy security of the country, Mr Švagr said. In June, the Czech government approved further purchases of 75,000 tons worth of gas reserves that will be stored by the SSHR. CZK 1.2 billion have been allocated for the purchase.

Jan Graubner, who has until now served as the Archbishop of Olomouc, was officially inaugurated as the Archbishop of Prague during a mass in the Cathedral of Saint Vitus in the Czech capital on Saturday. Monseigneur Graubner replaces Cardinal Dominik Duka in the office, who led the Prague Archdiocese for 12 years.

Mr Graubner was named as Duka’s successor in May. He is considered an adherent of the conservative wing of the Czech Catholic Church, the Czech News Agency writes.