Sports News
Janda returns to form
Jakub Janda, photo: CTK
Czech ski jumper Jakub Janda, who leads the World Cup standings, saw a
return to form at the weekend, finishing second at the World Cup event in
Lahti, Finland. Janda was competing for the first time since his
disappointing showing at the Olympics where he finished out of the medals
in both individual events. He led the competition after the first round,
but was passed by hometown jumper Janne Happonen in the second. The second
place finish means that Janda extends his lead in the season's overall
standings to 112 points over Janne Ahonen, who managed only a
disappointing twentieth place. Although he lost out on the victory, Janda
was very satisfied with his performance:
"I'm not disappointed at all. I'm happy with my second place finish because I was out of form for some time now. And my coach and I started to work on something I thought I had mastered, but hadn't. We focused on it and already in the qualification I saw that things were going well. I waited to see how it would go and it went well."
Rezac fourth at the Vasaloppet
Stanislav Rezac
Marathon cross-country skier Stanislav Rezac finished fourth at the
Vasaloppet in Sweden on Sunday. This was only one position behind his best
finish on the podium in 2003. Rezac managed to keep with the lead group of
four skiers over the ninety kilometre course, but didn't have the strength
in the final sprint to the line. Sweden's Daniel Tynall finished ahead of
countryman Jerry Ahrlin and Norwegian legend Anders Aukland to take the
win.
Liberec extends its lead in soccer league
Slovan Liberec - Slovacko, photo: CTK
In the weekend's Czech football First Division, Slovan Liberec was able to
open up a seven point lead on second-place Teplice and eight points on
third-place Slavia Prague after the two contenders managed only to eek out
draws at home to inferior competition. Liberec took home full points from
Slovacko with a 2-1 win on Sunday after scoring in the second minute of
injury time.
Two spots left in hockey league playoffs
The Czech ice hockey Extraliga moves into its final round with three teams
jostling for the final two playoff spots. Newly promoted Ceske Budejovice
assured itself a place in the eight-team playoffs after defeating Vsetin
at the weekend. Last year's champion Pardubice is on the outside looking
in right now, three points behind Sparta and two behind Trinec, which
currently hold the last two sports. All that can change on Thursday when
the three competitors all host teams assured a playoff spot.
Jagr becomes all-time leading scorer among Europeans in the NHL
Jaromir Jagr
Finally, Czech hockey winger Jaromir Jagr passed another milestone last
week with a three-point performance against the Philadelphia Flyers. The
New York Rangers star netted two goals and added an assist to pass
Finland's Jarri Kurri as the all-time leading scorer among Europeans in
the NHL. Jagr now stands at an even 1,400 points, good enough for 17th on
the all-time list.
