Austrian and Slovak Rowers Pick Up Two Wins Apiece at the Czech Beach Sprint Cup

The Austrian national team and rowers from two Slovak clubs, Veslársky oddiel Slávia STU Bratislava (BSTU) and VK Sĺňava Piešťany (PIES), won a pair of gold medals each in the second round of the Czech Beach Sprint Cup last weekend. While the majority of the wins and medals still went to Czech athletes, including 2025 Coupe de Jeunesse silver medalist and European bronze medalist Lukáš Kašík, the participation and results highlight the international importance of such open regattas.

Neither of the three countries—Austria, Czechia and Slovakia—have coastlines, and so competing in beach sprint is not a natural choice and requires some inventiveness and/or travel. Over the last few months he Austrian team has been training frequently in Málaga, Spain, for example, and both Austria and Czechia raced in the Filippi Trophy in Italy this year.

Saturday’s race took place at Nové Mlýny, on the Věstonice Reservoir in the southeast part of Czechia. The race course was just 10km from the Austrian border and 25km from the Slovakian, and barely a little farther from the two countries’ capitals, Vienna and Bratislava, respectively.

Racing took place on a lake, meaning there were no significant waves or tidal conditions. And green mats and sand were laid down on the shoreline to attempt to recreate the missing beach element. Instead of finish line buzzers, racers had to ring a bell hung from a post.

The first regatta of this year’s two-round cup was canceled, but there will be two more opportunities for foreign rowers to compete in Czechia this year: at the Czech national championship on 1 August and at the Třeboň Beach Sprint on 21 August.

The complete podiums from the second round of the Czech Beach Sprint Cup were:

CW1x:

1. Michala Pospíšilová – OLYM
2. Chiara Halama – Austria
3. Viktória Zruttová – PIES (Slovakia)

CM1x:

1. Vincent Schreiber – Austria
2. Marek Diblík – LSBR
3. Aleš Suský – BŘEC

CMix2x:

1. Jakub HERHONEK, Viktória ZRUTTOVÁ – BSTU/PIES (Slovakia)
2. Vincent Schreiber, Lisa Schalk – Austria
3. Magdalena Novotná, Aleš Suský – OLYM/BŘEC

U19 CW1x:

1. Magdaléna Vlastníková – PARD
2. Marie Zavadilová – LYSÁ
3. Veronika Bittnerová – TŘEB

U19 CM1x:

1. Lukáš Kašík – BŘEC
2. Lukas Schönhuber – Austria
3. Alex Rittenbacher – Austria

U19 CMix2x:

1. Lukas Schönhuber, Alena Lux – Austria
2. Veronika Bittnerová, Ondřej Žižka – TŘEB
3. Alex Rittenbacher, Elena Schalk – Austria

U17 CW1x:

1. Elen Havlová – LSBR
2. Tereza Trojanová – BŘEC
3. Iva Oslzlá – HODN

U17 CM1x:

1. Theo Záboj – BSTU (Slovakia)
2. Lukáš Hladík – BRAN
3. Tobiáš Trepač – BŘEC

U17 CMix2x:

1. Aneta Čiháková, Lukáš Hladík – LYSÁ/BRAN
2. Tobiáš Trepáč, Iva Oslzlá – BŘEC/HODN
3. Ondřej Šálek, Tereza Trojanová – BŘEC