During the last weekend of May, Prague's river island Štvanice hosted another Štvanickej Finbreaker. This year's second edition of this river surfing event, organized by the Prague Surf Club in collaboration with the Czech Surfing Association and Vlny Štvanice, hosted a significantly higher number of competitors and spectators. The competition was expanded with an appealing international round featuring skilled surfers from Austria and Germany, being the first international event in the Czech river surfing history.
This year, the fans had the opportunity to cheer not only from Hlávkův Bridge or the Karlín bank, but there was also a raft transporting them directly to the wave. This novelty had a positive effect on the performances as well as the overall atmosphere of the competition. The event was also live-streamed at the Vlny Štvanice association's clubhouse area.
Photo: Czech Surfing / Pavel Mikeska, Pavel Hanuš, Pavel Pek
Results of the Czech-Slovak competition
A total of 21 male competitors and 9 female competitors participated in Saturday's Czech-Slovak competition. Last year's winner, Jan Moleš, defended his first place in the men's category, while Julie Hučíková won in the women's category. Both winners, locals from Prague's only river wave, were awarded river surfboards from Apatyka Surfboards and Radiance Surfboards. Congratulations on the great performances!
Ranking | Women open |
1. | Julie Hučíková Prague Surf Club |
2. | Miroslava Vydrnáková (SK) |
3. | Veronika Řeháková |
4. | Lenka Ptáčková |
Ranking | Men open |
1. | Jan Moleš Prague Surf Club |
2. | David Mikulík |
3. | Matyáš Pšenička |
4. | Martin Dolejš |
International Showdown
Sunday's International Showdown featured the top male and female competitors from Saturday's Czech-Slovak segment and a carefully selected international group of 6 male river surfers and 4 female river surfers from Germany and Austria. Ina Schorr, a German river surfer from Munich, dominated the women's category. The first place in the men's category was claimed by the promising nineteen-year-old river surf star from Salzburg (AU), Niklas Sandhoff.
Ranking | International Showdown - Women |
1. | Ina Schorr (DE) |
2. | Johanna Druskeit (DE) |
3. | Michaela Münz (DE) |
4. | Julie Hučíková (CZ) |
Ranking | International Showdown - Men |
1. | Niklas Sandhoff (AU) |
2. | Yanik Mallwitz (DE) |
3. | Jan Moleš (CZ) |
4. | Alexander Neumann (DE) |
Niki Sandhoff, who has been training daily on his home break in the Almkanal in Salzburg for 6 years, and regularly competes at Rapid Surf League events, commented: "It's my first time in Prague, it is a beautiful city, the wave and the community here are great." Ina Schorr, the winner of the women's segment of the international competition from Munich, who usually trains on the oldest river wave in the world at Eisbach, agreed with him: "The competition was fantastic, everyone is really nice here, and Prague is stunning."
Photo: Czech Surfing / Pavel Mikeska, Pavel Pek
After the Saturday winners' announcement, the nearby River Surf Bar held a celebration party including live music performed by pop punk and LBC post-hardcore bands - The Much Better, Meta, and Stars Are So Far - and an excellent DJ Majk Book.
We would like to thank all the competitors, fans, and event partners who made the event possible: Prague 7, Reporting.cz, Manica s.r.o., Corona, Jagermeister, Radiance Surfboards, Riot surfboards, Buster surfboards, Apatyka surfboards, Boardriders CZ&SK, Surficata, and Freeride.cz.
The Czech-Slovak River Surfing Tour 2024 will continue with its next stop on July 13th in Čunovo, Bratislava, and the last stop in České Vrbné from August 9th to 11th.
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