“We knew that the final tournament of the top eight teams would be a real curling marathon. Our goal was to get through the basic part and then really tighten the tubes in the playoffs,” says Zuzana Paulová about the plan that she and Tomáš finally successfully fulfilled.

Julie and Vít, who represented the Czech Republic at the last two World Championships, looked like a very strong team during the regular season. They were the only pair to advance to the playoffs without defeat, and even in the first semi-final they managed to beat the Pauls.

In the final matches, according to Zuzana Paulová, experience and timed form could decide, while Julie Zelingorvá talks about mental fatigue.

“I think we managed to get in shape for the last matches, when we played really well in the semi-final and the first final match. In the second final, we were quite taken aback by the drastic change in the ice conditions and I had a really big problem adapting. In the end, I think our experience from similar matches, when we put aside the fact that we are not able to play the types of stones we are used to, and we pulled through in the end. Of course, we are very happy with the win,” explains Zuzka.

Julie recently returned from the Youth Olympics in Korea, where she competed in the mixed doubles category with Ondřeh Blaha, and according to her, this change also affected the course of the final.

“A week before the MCR, I came back from the YOG, where the ice, the time and the composition of the matches were completely different. This week we played ten matches in four days, which was a huge change compared to any system of other tournaments. And unfortunately, during the last two matches, it fell on me mainly mental fatigue, when it was too much for me in the last month,” he says.

In the end, the third place was taken by the Klím couple, who defeated Kristýna Farková and David Jakle in the fight for bronze.

Overall, the top eight teams are:

1. Zuzana Paulová / Tomáš Paul
2. Julie Zelingrová / Vít Chabičovský
3. Petra Klímová / Lukáš Klíma
4. Kristýna Farková / David Jakl
5. Veronika Vašáková / Ondřej Bodlák
6. Sofie Krupičková / Ondřej Blaha
7. Karolína Frederiksen / Tomáš Válek
8. Klára Cihlářová / Tomáš Macek

Podrobné informace naleznete zde.

Among the main favorites are defending champions Julie Zelingrová and Vít Chabičovský, who also participated in the last two World Championships, and Julie also competed in the mixed doubles category at the Youth Olympics in South Korea in January. And other irons in the fire are husband and wife Klím and Paul. The Klíms won both qualifying tournaments, and they can also benefit from their experience in the national team in foursome curling – Lukáš is currently the skipper of the men’s national team, and Petra was part of the women’s national team until last year. The Pauls, with their Olympic experience, are returning to the fight for the title of national champions after last year’s parental break.

Other medalists from last year also made it to the final tournament. The silver medal will be defended by Kristýna Farková and David Jakle, and the bronze by Karolína Frederiksen and Tomáš Válek.

Another two junior pairs also have experience in representative events this season. Sofie Krupičková skippered the national junior women’s team at the B World Championship in Finland in December, and her partner Ondřej Blaha gained experience in the mixed doubles category with Julia Zelingrová in Korea at the Youth Olympics. Members of the second pair, Veronika Vašáková and Ondřej Bodlák, both also participated in the Junior World Championships in Lohje, Finland.

The final eight are completed by Klára Cihlářová and Tomáš Mack from Zbraslav.

The schedule of all matches can be found here. You can continuously monitor the results on our website. And if you don’t have time to come to cheer in person in the hall, it is also possible to watch all the matches online on the stream.

“We will have the match against the USA in our heads for a long time, but hopefully the pain from the end of it will move us somewhere. Progress to the semi-finals was awfully close as we led by three points before the final end. Julča’s last stone was missing by about 5 millimeters because he licked the guard, so we got a four. The Americans were not a rebound team for us, we are even more sorry for the elimination, because we could have won a medal,” Czech coach Petr Horák commented on the quarter-final match.

The overall victory in the mixed doubles category at the YOG goes to the British, who were the only ones who managed to beat Julia and Ondřej in the basic part of the group. The silver then travels to Denmark.

Although in the end the Czech pair leaves Korea without a medal, their performance is one of the best that Czech curling has performed at the Youth Olympics. The last time the Czech team made it to the playoffs was in 2012, when it was also eliminated in the quarterfinals.

Nevertheless, the Czech representatives thank you for your support. “A huge thank you to both Julč and Ondra for their perfect approach and representation. It was an honor to work with both of them,” concludes Petr Horák.

The Czechs managed to cope with a relatively difficult draw in the group, where they faced three favored pairs: Canada, Great Britain and South Korea. Yesterday, however, Julia and Ondřej managed to win over the Canadians, and today in the night hours of European time they also defeated the Koreans. With one loss, they advance from Group A in second place behind the British.

The coach of the Czech pair, Petr Horák, assessed the last two matches against Canada and Korea as crucial and praised our juniors for maintaining the lead in the matches until the end, which unfortunately did not happen in the match against Great Britain.

“The match against Korea started like a dream, when we scored two deuces against the opponent’s advantage. We then did not let go of the lead, although the Koreans kept improving. Julča and Ondra also managed a dramatic development in the 7th end, when we still did not manage to decide the match. The last end he was well looked after by us,” commented Petr Horák on the decisive match for promotion to the top eight.

In the quarterfinals, the Czechs will meet the undefeated Americans. The match starts at 11:00 Czech time, you can follow the online results here.