A surprise gold for the Czech!

A surprise gold for the Czech!

Lenka Knapova (left), Vendula Horcickova and Katerina Chroma from the Czech Republic won the women’s relay at JWOC in Hradec Králové. Photo: Erik Borg

When Vendula Horcickova finished the relay she and the rest of her team didn’t know that they were going to be Junior World Champions.

“We will cry at the prize-giving”, said the girls, shortly after they found out they had won.

Norway finished first, but the anchor runner hadn’t visited the second last control. It was also here that it was decided who would be the winner of the relay. Sweden’s second team runner was ahead of Vendula on the way to the second last leg, but she ran in a wrong direction.

“I saw her go the wrong way”, says Vendula.

She picked the second last and last control securely and ran into the finish without showing much joy, but that and tears came later while the Norwegian team were very sad.

On the first leg Sweden 1, one of the big favourites, was also disqualified for missing a control.

Lenka Knapova ran well on the first leg. She is 19 years old and is from Holice, just 25 kilometres from the place for the relay. Katerina Chroma followed up with a good run on second leg; she is 18 years old and lives in Brno. The anchor is from Prerov and 19 years old. The anchor was also in the winning Czech Team at the EYOC relay two years ago.

“I cried when I heard the national anthem that time”.

– There is always a victory with you in the team?

“No, but I try to do my best”, she says.

The last time the Czech women won at JWOC was in 1995. The Czech junior boys won last time in 2007.

In the women’s class there were three legs 4,5–4,7  kilometres long with 19 controls on each leg. In all 48 teams took part. The relay was organised just some kilometres outside Hradec Králové, about 100 kilometres east of Prague. The terrain was with some gentle slopes and covered with mixed forest of variable age rich in vegetation detail and some grass under-vegetation.