I made a mistake.

A few hours after the final tournament of the Czech Republic Curling Championships was over, I watched a replay of a match between two Canadian teams from this year's Brier (Koe - Dunstone). It wasn't a good idea, because it was missing a little, and the special atmosphere accompanying Czech curling, the sprawling hall and the fight for the 2021/2022 Czech Championship title would have evaporated.

This year's Czech championship, or rather the superstructure of the extra-league competition, was preceded by a mixed doubles final played in a five-player format. The qualification system, based on the results of two separate open tournaments and one participant added on the basis of foreign results, created a line-up that included junior pairs. And one of them, Julie Zelingrova and Vit Chabichovsky, managed to win the whole tournament with only one small hiccup. Six wins and one loss are the card they will take to represent the Czech Republic at the World Championships.

On Thursday, March 3, the Round Robin Men's and Women's World Championships began. The ice conditions were quite good. Speed between 13.6 and 14.6 and a spin rate of nearly four feet offered an offensive concept of play that most teams applied. After the regular season, the semifinal pairs Savona H - Ledolamky in women and Kolibris NG - Kolibris 2 in men remained. The teams Liboc 3 (skip A. Baudyšová) and Zbraslav (skip L. Klíma) won their direct participation in the final round robin. It should be noted that the participating teams did not have the same conditions for preparation. The Covid-19 pandemic and the accompanying legal circumstances allowed only some players to train fully. And all together lacked the standard match load common in previous years. At some points, these aspects became apparent. The only slightly above average quality of play was complemented by combativeness and increased effort. Most games were evenly matched and some ended in extra ends. All the action was overseen, apart from the umpires, by a dysfunctional central clock showing a stubborn 5.52, at least from the stands. The bronze belongs to Ledolam and Kolibris NG. On Monday, Tuesday at the latest, the national teams for this year's European Championships were to be decided. Both finals came down to decisive third games, with the late winners establishing promising leads in the first half of the match. The silver medalists are Savona H in the women's and Kolibris 2 in the men's. For the seventh time in a row, Liboc 3 celebrated the title, with traditional skip Anna Kubeskova replaced this year by Alžběta Baudyšová. In the men's division, the Zbraslav players led by Lukas Klíma repeated their victory.

It was a difficult days for me, as a long-time coach of the women's national team, full of emotional strain. I saw in many details that we have a lot of work to do to stay in the European top, not to mention the world top. And that's in all categories. I believe that circumstances will allow us to concentrate on the task at hand and compete with the best.

photo: in the title, the winning Liboc 3 women's team, below in the gallery, the two championship teams and a view of the hall with a standing time of 5.52 on the central clock.