Renew: 29/11/2022 14:08
Issued by: 29/11/2022, 14:08

Prague – Czech swimmers are looking forward to the heat and the Australian fans, many of them coming to Melbourne, ahead of the World Short Course Championships. The Championships kick off on December 13, but most of the teams will fly there this Friday to acclimate at the venue. The representatives’ last test performance was the national championship in Pilsen last weekend.

The trip to Australia will take just over a day for the Czech expedition, arriving in Australia on the evening of Saturday to Sunday local time. “We will start training on Sunday afternoon. We will be in this place until December 10. We have two phases of training for two hours in the morning and two hours in the afternoon with a few days off,” said coach Petra Škábová, who is in charge in charge of the national team for this top event, at today’s press conference. The Czech swimmers will have their final camp directly in Melbourne. Just in a different part of the championship.

On Sunday, 4 December, Simona Kubová will join up with the team, who are currently training in Hong Kong. Crawler Barbora Seemanová will not leave for Melbourne until 8 December, where it will be the first top event of the year. “The main thing is that it keeps me healthy. I am healthy and ready to compete,” said the swimmer, whose health issues have kept him out of this year’s world and European championships in the long pool, via video.

With the exception of Jan Šefl, no swimmer preparing for the World Championships has ever been to Australia. “I’m looking forward to the heat. I think there will be a great atmosphere,” said Kristýna Horská who is looking forward to the 200 meter breaststroke and medley races.

He got the information that the last block was sold out. In Melbourne, there can be an atmosphere similar to that in spring and summer in the WC and EC in Budapest and Rome, which are also bastions of swimming. In Australia, swimming is the number one sport. “It’s an amazing feeling when you’re on the starting line and the stadium is cheering for you,” Horská recalls his experience from the championship earlier this year.

Sharpshooter Tomáš Franta will fly to the World Cup after an injury he sustained in early November during the World Cup in Indianapolis. “During practice, I was walking around the pool and tripped over a structure, breaking the middle toe of my right foot,” he said. Originally, he had no idea that his injuries would be so serious. He finished training and froze his feet at night.

After waking up, he saw that he was sick. “Her leg was playing with all the colors and the toe was swollen to the point where it looked like a Javanese sausage. At that point they found on the X-ray that it was broken. So I signed everything and started to rest,” she said. A week and a half after his arrival from the US, he kept his leg aside during practice, using only his healthy leg when rotating. He started training with no big restrictions until a week before the national championships, which for him was a test of his legs. “It turned out great. It was an indicator for me that I could lean on him,” he boasted.

Škábová athletes and coaches are a little scared of Australia’s colorful fauna. “Even if we are not somewhere in the wild, there are many things I don’t like. Snakes are a disaster for me. Even a blind person bothers me, even though it’s not a snake, I know. As soon as I met the first snake, I climbed plane and run, repre nerepre,” he said exaggeratedly. Horská and Franta are also afraid of snakes. Ondřej Gemov is again afraid of spiders. “I don’t mind snakes, but I have severe arachnophobia,” he revealed.

Ten Czech swimmers will compete in the World Championships. In addition to individual starts, a relay race awaits them, the exact program will only be clear at the venue.

short swim