Komárek went down in the history of hardening. On Štěpán, he swam in the Vltava for the fiftieth time
/PHOTO GALLERY, VIDEO/ He dived into the cold waves of the Vltava for the first time on Boxing Day in 1972. Since then, Vladimír Komárek has never missed the Alfred Nikodem Memorial on Slovanský ostrov, so on Monday he celebrated his fiftieth participation.
Convalescents at the 76th Alfred Nikodem Memorial.
| Photo: CPA
An hour before noon, the water temperature in the Vltava rose to 4.9 degrees Celsius, the air was 8.5 °C. Residents of Prague, as well as foreign tourists, huddled in coats, scarves and beanies on the shores. However, it was not ideal weather for winter swimmers. It is possible to obtain the hardening performance levels in water with a temperature of up to 4°C.
“I have a good feeling about my fiftieth performance,” said Vladimír Komárek, who is the chairman of the Czech Fitness Union, after swimming his section of mathematics.
A strong current changed the original track
He was only disappointed that, due to the strong current caused by the recent snow melt, it did not float as originally designed. In order to maintain the regularity of the competition, the organizers had to completely change the track. Instead of two laps, four laps were swam in the silence behind Slovanské ostrov.
Source: CPA
“I remember years when the water temperature was close to zero. The warmest Vltava. what I experienced here was 6.9 degrees. Eight degrees below zero was the worst frost,” recalled 69-year-old Vladimír Komárek, who was the director of the Alfred Nikodém Memorial ten times.
At the 76th edition, 350 winter swimming enthusiasts showed up in Prague. In front of hundreds of onlookers, the athletes completed three courses – a competitive 750 meters measured as the František Venclovský Memorial and two conditioning ones – 100 (Stephan Polák Memorial) and 300 meters (Oldřich Liška Memorial).
Take a look: The hardy people in the Vltava battled cold water and a strong current
The conquerors of the English Channel were also at the start
Lenka Štěrbová won the longest distance among women in ninth place. Rostislav Vítek was the fastest in the men’s category. The oldest swimmers were Milena Holubcová, Iva Klásková and Jiří Hájek, all born in 1947.
Pavlína Procházková and Michal Brauner, the conquerors of the La Manche channel, were also at the start of the traditional event. Among the former conquerors were Jakub Valníček, Radek Táborský, Aleš Rucký and the Austrian swimmer Josef Köberl.
The family line-up of this year’s Czech relay across the English Channel also arrived – 57-year-old mother Pavlína Procházková with her daughters Zuzana, Jana and Kateřina, whose name is Hájková.
The first performance of the tough guys in Prague at the National Theater took place in 1923. Alfred Nikodem swam publicly in the Vltava for the last time in December 1945. And he considers the event from 1947 to be the first year under the name Alfred Nikodem Memorial.
Jubilee The gnat will flood Alfred Nikodem’s fiftieth memorial