Josef Dostál is Czech Sportsperson of the Year, hockey team triumphs in historic poll
Kayaker Josef Dostál claimed his first Czech Sportsperson of the Year title. The Olympic champion in the 1000m race earned 1,316 points in the 66th edition of the poll, securing victory over Wimbledon champion tennis player Barbora Krejčíková by 50 points. Martin Fuksa, another speed canoeist and gold medalist at the Paris Games, finished in third place.
The national hockey team secured their fifteenth victory in the history of the competition, winning the home World Championship. The results of the traditional Sports Journalists Club poll were revealed today at the Prague Hilton Hotel.
Dostál surpassed his previous best, which was second place in 2016. This marks the third time he has been ranked in the top ten in the individual category. The speed canoeing representative triumphed in the poll for the third time, and the first since 1996, when Martin Doktor won.
Dostál became only the second Czech, after the legendary javelin thrower Jan Železný, to win a medal at the fourth Summer Olympics. The 31-year-old kayaker, in addition to his Olympic gold, also triumphed at the World Championship in the halfpipe this year.
This is the third time Krejčíková has been ranked second in the poll, having won it the previous year alongside her former doubles partner, Kateřina Siniaková. The 29-year-old tennis player also reached the semi-finals of the Champions Tournament this year, in addition to her Wimbledon victory.
Fuksa finished just three points behind Krejčíková. He was one of five athletes who were in the top ten last year. The reigning Olympic champion in the 1000m improved her ranking, moving up from seventh place last year to third this time. Defending champion Markéta Vondroušová, who faced health issues this year, did not place in the rankings.
Siniaková claimed fourth place, having been ranked individually, like Krejčíková, rather than as part of a pair. The 28-year-old dominated the women's doubles rankings and secured Olympic gold in mixed doubles with Tomáš Macháč.
Macháč, who has also made a name for himself in singles, was ranked separately this time, finishing seventh with the same points as sixth-place goalkeeper Lukáš Dostál, but with fewer higher placements.
David Pastrňák, who scored the winning goal for the Czech team in the World Hockey Championship final against Switzerland, took fifth place. The Boston forward, who topped the poll in 2020, is the highest-ranked individual member of the world champion team from Prague. Alongside him and Dostál, team captain Roman Červenka also made the top ten, finishing in eighth place.
For the first time in the history of the poll, only four sports were represented in the final selection. The top ten included three tennis players, three ice hockey players, and two speed canoeists and athletes. Ninth place was claimed by the surprising Olympic bronze medalist Nikola Ogrodnikova, followed by her javelin teammate and this year's European champion, Jakub Vadlejch.
Among the teams, the national hockey team was the most successful, achieving its fifteenth triumph, tying with Czechoslovakia. The Cordovans, the surprising Olympic bronze medalists, took second place by a significant margin of 137 points. Third place went to Sparta Prague, who won a domestic double in the spring and then advanced to the main stage of the Champions League for the first time in 19 years.
The junior category was led by Lurdes athlete Gloria Manuel, while sports legend Milena Duchkova-Neveklovská, the 1968 Olympic diving champion from Mexico, was also honored. The award for dedication to sport was presented to Josef Fuksa, the longtime coach of speed canoeists and grandfather of Martin.
Journalists vote in two rounds for the poll. First, they select ten finalists, from which they choose the winner. This year, 230 journalists participated, with 52 athletes receiving at least one point in the individual category. Fuksa led in the first round, but Dostál was more successful in the second. The winner was ranked first by 49 journalists, while 44 voters placed Krejčíková second. Dostál became the 46th athlete to win the poll. The record holders are Věra Čáslavská and Železný, each with four first-place finishes.Kayaker Josef Dostál won his first Czech Sportsperson of the Year title, earning 1,316 points in the 66th poll, defeating Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejčíková by 50 points.
