Sports News

In Sports news this Monday: Eva Samková wins her first World Cup title in snowboardcross; Four Czechs through in Miami Open; Czechs go third in World Cup group after 6:0 victory over San Marino; Czech skier Kateřina Smutná takes silver in Årefjällsloppet.

Samková wins first world cup title in snowboardcross

Eva Samková, photo: CTK

Eva Samková has for the first time won the World Cup title for snowboardcross. The Olympic champion secured her first place in the series after taking second place in the final competition in Veysonnaz, Switzerland, on Saturday. With 480 points going into the final competition, Samková knew that a place on the podium would be enough to secure the crystal. This is what she had to say after the race:

“It’s absolutely great. I am really happy. I even feel a bit sentimental, which I usually don’t. I really wished for this to happen and I am glad we all managed to achieve it. The race went fine and everyone worked very hard today.”

Samková is the second Czech snowboarder to win a World Cup this season, with Ester Ledecká securing the big Crystal Globe in the Snowboard World Cup’s parallel giant slalom.

Four Czechs remain in Miami Open

Karolína Plíšková, photo: CTK

Czech tennis players Karolína Plíšková and Barbora Strýcová are both in the fourth round of the Miami open tournament and will now face each other. Lucie Šafářová is through to the third round, after defeating Alja Tomljanovic of Australia. However, Šafářová and her US partner Bethanie Mattek Sands will not defend their title in the women’s doubles, after losing to the Slovenian-Spanish couple Andreja Klepac and Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez in the second round. The only Czech to remain in the men’s singles is Tomáš Berdych, who eased past Russian teenager Andrey Rublev 6-3, 6-2 in the second round and now faces Gilles Muller of Luxembourg.

Czechs go third in group after 6:0 victory over San Marino

San Marino - Czech Republic, photo: CTK

In football, the Czech Republic set a record for goals scored in the first half with five put past San Marino. The team added another in the second half to win 6:0 in the World Cup group qualifier on Sunday night. The team coach Karel Jarolím told Czech Television it was a decent performance:

“In such a game, everyone expects you to win but even these seemingly easy matches sometimes remain undecided till the very last moment. So I am happy that we decided the outcome already in the first half.”

The win puts the Czechs third in the group, two points behind Northern Ireland and seven behind group leaders Germany who have a full 15 points from five starts. The Czech team needs to win all their remaining group games to secure second place and the chance of qualifying for Russia.

Czech skier Kateřina Smutná takes silver in Årefjällsloppet

Czech skier Kateřina Smutná on Saturday took the silver in the women’s 55-kilometre race in Sweden’s Årefjällsloppet, which is part of the Ski Classic series. Smutná finished just two seconds behind the winner Britta Johansson Norgren of Sweden. Smutná has won five races in the series this year, including the Jizerská 50, a 50-kilometre race held in the Jizerské mountains near Liberec.