An Incredible Summer Of Racing For Vitek

What a summer it has been for Rostislav Vitek (shown on left). After winning the 36K Maratona Del Golfo Capri-Napoli, finishing third in the 57K Maratón Acuática Internacional Santa Fe - Coronda, and finishing 8th in the World Swimming Championship 25K, he swam the fourth best time in history in the English Channel.

Rostislav recently won both the 5K and 20K races of Czech Open Water Swimming Championships in Lipno, securing his tenth title over the last 12 years. He will wrap up the Czech Cup for the sixth time due to his 19 victories in 22 races on the Czech Open Water Seriesthis year.

In the 5K national championship, the 33-year-old Rostislav closely won over Jakub Fichtl who competed in the 5K and 10K races at the 2009 World Swimming Championships and Jan Posmourny.

He won over Libor Smolka (shown on left) in the 20K race.

On the women's side, Silva Rybarova won her first national title in the 5K. But 15-year-old Lenka Sterbova won in the 20K after her mother, also named Lenka Sterbova, won the 20K title in 2008 at the age of 36.

In another comeback story, the eighth-place 5K finisher was 41-year-old Michael Drozd who won FINA World Cup marathon swims in the 40K Lac St-Jean and 40K Lac Memphremagog race in 1997, the 88K Parana swim in 1996, was second in the 26K Swim Across The Sound (USA) and third in the 36K Atlantic City (Marathon in 1997.

The top 5 men in the 20K Czech Championships were:

1. Rostislav VÍTEK, 4:13:47.2
2. Libor SMOLKA, 4:28:33.1
3. Jan POŠMOURNÝ, 4:35:54.4
4. Josef KUČERA, 4:44:41.1
5. Michael MRŮZEK, 4:52:35.6

The top 5 women in the 20K Czech Championships were:

1. Lenka ŠTĚRBOVÁ, 5:01:39.5
2. Hana NOVÁKOVÁ, 5:03:33.1
3. Tereza MRŮZKOVÁ, 5:20:52.7
4. Helena GILIKOVÁ, 5:42:00.7
5. Tereza SKUHROVÁ, 5:50:35.1

The top 5 men in the 5K Czech Championships were:

1. Rostislav VÍTEK, 1:01:21.9
2. Jakub FICHTL, 1:01:24.2
3. Jan POŠMOURNÝ, 1:01:27.5
4. Libor SMOLKA, 1:04:29.0
5. Adam VILČKO, 1:07:09.3

The top 5 women in the 5K Czech Championships were:

1. Silvie RYBÁŘOVÁ, 1:08:49.6
2. Lenka ŠTĚRBOVÁ (daughter), 1:12:56.8
3. Magda OKURKOVÁ, 1:13:28.7
4. Hana KŘEMENOVÁ, 1:15:02.1
5. Lenka ŠTĚRBOVÁ (mother), 1:17:15.1

Note: dalkove plavani = long distance swimming in the Czech language.