Bauer hits form less than month before World Championships

Photo: CTK After a slow start to the season and some health problems along the way, the Czech cross country skier Lukáš Bauer seems to have hit top form at exactly the right time. Bauer notched up his first World Cup win of the season in the 15 kilometre classic at Estonia’s Otepaa on Saturday, becoming the first skier to come first there two years in a row. That success comes less than four weeks before the World Championships on Bauer’s favourite course in the north Bohemian resort of Liberec, which he’s hoping will be the high point of his season.

“I’m completely satisfied after my win, both in terms of my performance and our preparations – everything worked out today…I wouldn’t say I wasn’t satisfied with how my season had gone up to now – we’ve been preparing for a gradual improvement in my performance as the World Championships draw near.”

The Nordic World Ski Championships get underway in Liberec on February 18.

Berdych loses to Federer after taking two-set lead

Tomáš Berdych, photo: CTK Tomáš Berdych, seeded 20th, was the last Czech singles player in tennis’s Australian Open when he faced former world number one Roger Federer in the fourth round. And things were looking good for a while, with Berdych taking the first two sets 6-4 7-6. However, Federer, hoping to equal Pete Sampras's record for grand slam titles, fought back to win the next three sets 6-4 6-4 6-2 and secure a dramatic victory.

Verner fails to hold on to European figure skating crown

Tomáš Verner, photo: CTK Another Tomáš left wondering about what might have been was Tomáš Verner, who took gold at last year’s European Figure Skating Championships. After day one in Helsinki this year, the Czech was second overall and hopeful of again making the podium. However on Friday’s final day Verner messed up some basic moves in his free skating performance and ended up coming sixth. After a similar experience at last year’s World Championships, his coach told reporters the skater needed to work more on his mental approach than his technique.

Rosický set for March return?

Tomáš Rosický, photo: CTK The Czech football star Tomáš Rosický is making progress in his bid to return to full fitness, over a year after he last played for Arsenal. The midfielder, who has undergone two operations to deal with a complicated hamstring problem, said on his own website that he began training on a pitch again last week. It now appears the 28-year-old could be ready for competitive action in March.