News

Ester Ledecká did not finish the women’s Super-G at the Olympic Games in Cortina d’Ampezzo, and just as in snowboarding, her bid for a medal on skis also came up short.

The race proved extremely demanding, with many skiers failing to reach the finish due to the course’s difficulty. The sensational Super-G champion from the previous Winter Olympics in PyeongChang attacked her run aggressively but made a mistake in the final section and crashed. She later got back on her feet, skied down to the finish area, and signaled that she was unhurt.

Gold went to Italy’s Federica Brignone, who triumphed at 35, just ten months after a complicated leg fracture. Another Czech skier, Barbora Nováková, capitalized on a number of retirements to secure a career-best 14th place finish.

The Czech government on Monday will discuss plans to host the opening stages of the Tour de France, with Prague aiming to stage the Grand Départ in 2029 or later. Earlier editions of the race are already set to begin in Spain and Scotland, making that year the first realistic opportunity. The bid, launched last year by the government of then prime minister Petr Fiala, could coincide with the 40th anniversary of the fall of the communist regime.

Ministers will consider three proposed routes: from Tábor to České Budějovice, from Český Krumlov to Kvilda in South Bohemia, and a stage from Prague to the Křivoklát area and back to the capital.

The cabinet will also review changes to the working group preparing the candidacy. Complete documentation on the bid is expected by the end of October.

The tabloid daily Blesk was the most widely read national newspaper in Czechia last year, with an average of 429,000 readers per issue. That was down by 61,000 compared to the previous year. It was followed by Mladá fronta Dnes with 367,000 readers and the sports daily Sport with 148,000, according to data released by the Czech Publishers’ Union.

Overall, printed media reached 76 percent of the population last year, or nearly 6.9 million people. Daily newspapers were read by 48 percent of Czechs, while magazines reached 70 percent.

Former Supreme State Prosecutor Pavel Zeman has been appointed as the Czech Republic’s new European Prosecutor at the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO), which investigates the misuse of European Union funds.

Zeman said he intends to build on the work of his predecessor, Petr Klement, who he described as having performed the role “very successfully.” He begins a six-year term based at the EPPO headquarters in Luxembourg in July.

The EPPO has the authority to investigate and prosecute criminal offences affecting the EU’s financial interests and to bring perpetrators before court.