There were many questions in the air asking for the same thing - who is writing articles on this web? To avoid any speculation and conspiracy theories I decided to not to be hidden anymore. Yes, it's me - Ježek von Iglau. I am monitoring the performance of Moravian Angling Union, especially his casting part of Jihlava branch association.
For some time I discussed with Karel that it would be fine to publish some information about casting actions and competitions and how good the Jihlava team is there. And since the results were better and better and Karel was still useless, I decided to start this website and write reports about our young and older casters and their casting. Not forgetting my great friend Zuzana. She is not from Jihlava but she spends a lot of time with us.
Karel got into a time when he lost the motivation to fight for medals due the events in national team a few years ago. But he still loves and enjoys casting. He likes to travel to competitions, likes to cast and meet his friends but most of his time he focuses on Zuzana and our young talents of Jihlava association. There was probably only one competition Karel could cast alone and it was not necessary to care of other guys of the team. So I convinced him to go to final competition of World Cup and enjoy the competition and spend time with his friends from different countries. But everyone needs someone to support her or him during the competition so that time I did travel too. We both joined to the group of Moravian Silesian territory that used one car and had a free space for Karel and me.
World cup consists of 5 competitions in different places. First one was in Tallin (Estonia), the second one was in Lenzing (Austria), the third one was in České Budějovice (Czechia) and the fourth was in Nové Zámky (Slovakia). The last and the most important competition awarded by double points was hosted by the city of Saalfeld (Germany).
This district city in the Free State of Thuringia lies in the valley of the Saale river, the second most important tributary of the Elbe river (the second after Vltava river) and the city has a very rich history. The first mention of it dates back to 899.
Jirka arranged accommodation right next to the historic center so all young casters could enjoy the city center at least a little. Saturday morning the team was moving through the center and so everyone could see the historic buildings including the impressive town hall.
The competition place was a beautiful grassy area along the river Saale which in these places flowed like the Vltava in Vyšší Brod. All target events was placed with a sufficient distances between each starts.
A total of 34 competitors arrived at the final round of World Cup 2022. Austria - 2, Slovakia - 2, Swiss - 2, Czechia - 13. The rest of competitors was from Germany. Most casters were in men category.
I have to admit that I could not help myself and had to participate in everything. When will an ordinary hedgehog be lucky enough to go to casting competition and see everything with his own eyes? And so I tried to be everywhere.
Not everyone was thrilled about it. When I watched Zuzana and Natálka training on arenberg, I probably did not choose the most suitable place to watch them from, because Zuzka attacked me with a plug. I rather got out from the arenberg and go for a walk around the area.
I was lucky. I met a part of German national team. I finally met the guys I was seeing in the photos on which Karel was standing with them on the podium ... or next to them.
For example, I met Ralf, holder of 10 individual medals, who became world champion in pentathlon (2002 - Bled) and also world champion in allround (2012 - Tallin).
Right next to him was Jens, perhaps the best German male caster that got 94 individual medals (39 of which were gold) at world and European adult championships. He was 4 times a world champion in pentathlon, 7 times a world champion in heptathlon and 7 times a world champion in allround. He was also the first caster being world champion in 5-7-9 tlons at the same championship.
And next to him another great caster, Heinz. holder of 73 individual medals. Those are incredible numbers. He also became world championship in many-thlons, winning pentathlon for 6 times, winning heptathlon for 2 times and winning allround for 5 times.
Karel mentioned Olaf several times. He remembers the times how the stood together in allround during 2014 and 2015 championships. Although he was very close, he did not manage to win the gold (yet). However, he got 13 individual medals.
With so many great German caster it is no wonder that Sven managed to get to the world adult championship only once. But he had good results in the junior category, winning two golds, one silver and four bronze medals in the two championships he participated in.
Well, I could not stay too long with them, the competition was already starting. Yes, fly skish started. The first three competitors - Tomáš from Hořovice, Jens and Honza from Most - had the worst weather conditions. Raining during their casting... But they managed it perfectly, Tomáš and Jens had 100 points and Honza just one target missed.
Yes, there was not a lot of hundreds, even after the rain. Among the girls the best result was 2 missed targets (Natálka was the best). Boys were pretty good, three Czech had hundred and one had 95. Hard to cast against them. And Zuzka also got 100 points.
Then only two gave 100 points - Alena and Markus.
Yes, Alena and Markus, I wanted to say hello to them too.
Markus was able to get 44 individual medals at the adult world and European championships! Incredible number. 12 gold medals, of which he won 9 in multi events. He is the most successful Swiss competitor in allround, getting 3 silver and 4 bronze medals. Karel remembers him from Karel's second world championship where Karel, Markus and Jens stood together at the announcement of the allround in České Budějovice (year 2009).
Gerhard is also a medalist, he won 5 medals, mainly from fly skish and multi distance. That time the fly skish did not go so well on the world cup but it did not spoil his day.
Alena. Many times Karel was talking about her during reading in old results. It did sound like poem when he talked about her as 14 years old girl fighting at the legendary world championship in Karlovy Vary (1982), where she got her first medals - a bronze medal for fly skish and silver for arenberg. And just two years later she even became the world champion in pentathlon and there she added gold in her best even - fly combination (Toronto 1984). In total, she managed to win 86 individual medals, including 5 victories in pentathlon.
And I simply cannot forget Christian, a son of Alena, who became world champion in pentathlon just as a junior. He also won 5 individual medals at adult championships, including one gold medal. He won the gold in spinning distance single handed (2013).
And arenberg had started. I went to watch so. I tried to find some elevated, sparsely overgrown spot to get a better view but there was a dearth of flat ground where I was moving around.
It was horrible, I can say that straight away. Zuzka had zero by her last cast. At arenberg. Zero. Zuzka. Really. No comment...
The only ones that did cast arenberg well were probably only Tomáš from Hořovice and Lucka from Bohumín. I do not know but I think the condition was not so hard. Of course I am not an expert but I think 100 points could be casted.
Better be watching skish. Everyone was already training and targets were hit many times so I thought it was going to be a great performance for sure.
Well, the results were not so great. Probably because of the wind. It was not so pleasant. Every moment it blew different way, it was no fun. Even Zuzka scored only 80. The juniors did not show much either, the best David from Kdyně and Tomáš from Bohumín also missed twice. Men were also in troubles. Tomáš had 3 zeroes, Honza even 5 zeroes. Even Jens had 3 zeroes.
Well, if anyone surprised me at that moment, it was Karel. His casting was disaster so far, one missed target at fly skish, two 8 points casts at arenberg. And here - 100 points! I did not expect that at all. I do not understand how he did it.. He was talking how beautiful the casting was, one cast as the other... Well, luck is unpredictable.
Surprisingly, Karel was leading the men rank. Right behind him I saw Olaf with 5 points less, then Markus with 7 points less and Tomáš from Hořovice with 9 points less. Considering how Tomáš is good in fly distance this year, I was not expecting leading of Karel by fly distance.
Zuzka was loosing a lot, although she was the second, she was missing 14 points for the first place, Lucka from Bohumín. And Alena was only 2 points behind Zuzka.
During skish I had the honor of meeting Mr. Klament, the chairman of ICSF himself. Karel often told me how he saw Mr. Klamet at the world championships watching the progress of individual events and enjoyed the fights in final rounds of the juniors or adult categories.
Even Mr. Klamet was casting. Karel told me he had found his results in world championship results from Nuremberg. Mr. Klamet is the one of the last casters remembering the two greatest rivals who met at the world championships organized by the ICF organization - the American John Tarantino and Swedish Rune Fredriksson. At that time, championships were full of famous names - Ben Fontaine, Dan Äslund, Willi Stubbe or the raising star Walter Kummerow.
Unfortunately I cannot speak German so good to spend a huge talking time about memories of Mr. Klamet. And I was also getting cold so I went to hide.
I realized I had not brought a jacket with me. This was unpleasant because the weather was strange. The sun was shining for a while, then it got cloudy and it started to rain, then it was nice again. Such an April weather... in September.
Fortunately, Zuzka had a jacket with her so she kept me warm.
I warmed up my paws nicely. But I could not stay that long again, after all, it was my first time at the competition, so I wanted to see everything.
I came at the best possible moment. Fly distance was just starting with the top three - Honza from Most, Jens from Germany and Tomáš from Hořovice. Tomáš had best result of the trio - 109 points. Quite good enough comparing to the wind that was blowing. Honza got over 55 meters with one cast too but the second cast was shorter. Later each caster had two or three attempts for having good cast. In the rest of 5 minutes everyone had to deal with headwind. Or the line was taking out of sector to the left by wind. It was all about catching the two or three changes. For example, Jirka from Ostrava casted the best cast - 59 meters. But the second cast was 8 meters shorter. And almost everyone had it that way. Best results were probably casted by Sven and Rastík from Slovakia.
I was very surprised by Zuzka. I must say I do not have so many opportunities to be with her in training, but when I saw her casting this time, I really liked it. Seems that her results at world championship in Estonia was not only an accident. What more - here she managed to erase the loss on the targets. After fly distance she was loosing only 5 points in pentathlon. She even was able to cast more than Alena. Yes, this showed me how hard someone had it with the wind. Not everyone was lucky to had some good wind for casting.
As we watched, Jeňas of Litovel was the best in boys category and Lucka from Kdyně was the best in girls. Almost casting more than all women.
After fly distance Karel was called to pay entry fee so he went into the building. Waiting for him I thought I'd take a look around the building.
I found an interesting collection of medals. Karel then said that he recognized the medals from 2018 (Sweden), 2019 (Czechia), 2021 (Hungary) and this year from Estonia.
I also asked him about the junior ones from 2018 (Poland) and 2019 (Swiss) but he said he was not there so he did not know them. I wanted to make a note about Estonia and Sweden where he had not been too.. but I decided to remain rather silent.
In the common room I was most impressed by the wall of fish trophies. I have never seen such big fish heads. There were labels for individual fish. Of course, I know a little about fish so I recognized pike and zander. But the sizes were really big. The smallest of the fish was about 96 centimeters in size.
Actually no... there were also heads of big salmon and rainbow trout.
Well, a large collection of fish.
But then we had to move, the start of last event was very close. The spinning distance single handed.
Surprisingly, Karel was still leading by about 6 points. Four meters, no securing leading. In addition, we both know very well how great Tomáš can cast the spinning distance single handed. And there are another experts, like Christian for example.
Well, I could not leave it to Karel. He is lending his reel to boys of Jihlava and they sometimes have problems and have to cut lines and then again... Finally there is not enough line in the spool and Karel does not want to replace it by new line. So this time I had to talk to him. I told him - hey, finally after a long time you cast a competition and do not have to care of others so do not make me angry and do Your best. You have another empty spool and new line to put it in and we will see.
I better double checked it if he really put the line in there.
I tried to find a nice place again. Just as Heinz was about to cast. Jens and Tomáš had the best casts right at the beginning, they shot 69 meters. Then the wind started to get angry. For example, it went headwind for eight minutes, then it stopped for two minutes and then headwind again. Well, Karel did not start well, he had 59 meters. So Tomáš had 10 meters more and it seemed to be decided about the winner. Even Zuzka did not cast good, something about 50 meters with first cast.
For second cast someone had better conditions. Tomáš did not extend his result but for Karel it was better cast - 63 meters. Still not enough but it looked better. And Zuzka improved her cast and got over 61 meters. It looked that she had the same pentathlon result like Lucka of Bohumín, not sure who was better. Alena had a lot of problems with the wind, she was very unlucky. And David of Kdyně explained to all men how to cast - he got over 75 meters. No men got over 70 meters. Jeňas had also good wind but out of sector to left...
Tomáš started the third cast and power like hell.. but 69 meters again. Well, probably not good conditions on the other hand. Karel went to cast as fourth in order. During walking he did not feel headwind. Sometimes he seemed to be feeling wind from backward. Well, he waited for the right moment and casted. But line touched fingers somehow and it did not cast so far. Oh, how much Karel was cursing about being unlucky in that moment. Until he went to sign the result and found out that the "bad" cast was over 67 meters. He did not understand how that was possible.
And then Zuzka did cast. And used even more power than during second cast. And she did it, got over 63 meters. It did seem that she could win.
Karel started to pack the rods and I started to get bored a little as I do not need to watch him taking off the reel etc. So I went for a walk for a while.
And I met my friends from Slovakia. Another great casters came to Germany. Like Tomáš, world championship at spinning skish from Sweden (2018), beating Jan Bombera by 1 minute and 3 seconds.
Rastík on the other hand was great in fly distance. At one championship he got bronze medal and 9 years earlier he got silver medal. It was at the last European championship (2007). He got between Wlodzimier from Poland and Jens from Germany.
And with those two men another legend arrived. The Czechoslovakian legend Juraj from Nové Zámky. First Czechoslovakian men that started to winning medal in several championships. He also got gold in European championship in spinning distance single hanged (1981). His greatest success was in Berlin, European championship in 2003. He got all types of medals. Gold came from arenberg, silver from fly distance and bronze medal from pentathlon. I did not see any other person that could manage the same as he did - he stood on the podium with his son. Both they stood together at fly distance and pentathlon.
But in a while organizer wanted to start medal ceremony so I had to move.
It was interesting that all three positions did belong to Czech boys and Czech girls. At men and women category first two positions did belong to Czech casters and bronze position did belong to Austrian casters. At girls Lucka won, followed by Natálka and Anička. At boys David won, followed by Jeňas and Domin.
Finally Zuzka won the ladies category, leading by 4 points. I do not remember any competition where Zuzka would be able to pull back the loss on targets by distance events. Everything can happen for first time. She was followed by Lucka and Alena.
And Karel also won. So incredibly close, the second Tomáš was only 0.8 point away from him. Christian placed third position, also only a few points behind them.
Karel wanted to thank me for my whole day support and advices so he gave me the opportunity to be with him at the podium and listen to the Czech national anthem. Beautiful experience.
Then there was a pause. There was some time to go to hotel having shower and get better dressed.
Final ceremony started around 19:00. Outside. Some ladies were cold but it was done quickly. Karel did not even take off his jacket.
Thanks to her victory Zuzka was able to fin the overall standing as well. She won the World Cup for the second time in a row. Very good girl.. :)
No one could beat Tomáš this year, after all - he is the world champion in the pentathlon, this is hard to beat. But as a great surprise for Karel, Karel finished at second place. He was so happy about it that he immediately had to take a selfie. Tomáš and Tomáš wanted to make him happy so they smiled at his photo.
At the final banquet it was not possible to have the entire expedition from the Czechia together, so a group of Bohemia sat around one table and group of Moravia sat around another table. But I was also able to spend a while with the Bohemia group, from Hořovice, Kdyně and Most.
I must say the food provided by organizer was great and amazing. We ate and ate and ate...
But it was a very hard day.
We wanted to stay longer but we were all tired and especially Jirka had a long journey ahead of us, so we had to say goodbye to others earlier and move to hotel.
When I got to my room, I fell into bed and I do not remember anything from that moment. I woke up in the morning.
In the morning we all packed up and headed home.
The journey was long but we handled it. After six hours we arrived at Humpolec, where I, Zuzka and Karel got off. We said goodbye to the team of Moravian-Silesian Association, thanked them for being able to spend such a beautiful weekend with them and wished them a happy journey home.
We also drove to Jirka and Adam and their house. Fortunately Jirka saw what I absolutely needed and immediately prepared it for me - coffee.
And with that I would finish my story. It was a beautiful journey, a beautiful time, a beautiful experience.
Hopefully I will be able to come to some competition again sometime...
