Czech Sports That Captivate: Record-Breaking Moments and Pioneering Achievements

Regularly, around a quarter of us participate in sports, while a slightly smaller portion never engages in any sports activities. Czechs tend to enjoy a variety of popular activities, such as hiking, cycling, and swimming. Other favored sports include weight training, football, yoga, pilates, running, tennis, bowling, dancing, as well as winter sports like skating and skiing. Additionally, there’s figure skating, which is enjoyable to watch, and speed skating. Thanks to Martina Sáblíková, the Czech Republic has earned a number of medals in this sport. Czechs overwhelmingly consider Hockey to be the national sports title, with around 60% of the population agreeing, followed by football, which garners almost 25%, and biathlon ranks third. Interestingly, our neighboring countries have similar trends; in Slovakia, cycling is ranked third, while Poland favors football over hockey, along with handball and ski jumping. So what keeps some people away from sports? Almost half say they face health issues, roughly a third claim they don’t have time, and another third simply admit to being lazy.

Take a look at the sports calendar; you’re sure to find something exciting going on, leaving no chance for boredom!

The most famous race and personalities of Czech sport

According to sports statistics, the Jizerska 50 is recognized as the most famous and frequently attended race. The Czech athletes celebrated for their achievements include many who have won medals at both the Summer and Winter Olympics. Among these celebrated athletes are Emil and Dana Zátopek, Věra Čáslavská, Jiří Raška, Martina Navrátilová, the Pospíšil brothers, Jaromír Jágr, Ester Ledecká, Martina Sáblíková, Petra Kvitová, Jiří Prskavec, Lukáš Krpálek, and Barbora Špotáková.

One of the youngest athletic stars today is a speed skater named Metoděj Jílek. He was born just a few months after the outstanding speed skater Martina Sáblíková and, at 18 years old, made his debut at the Winter Olympics. Ahead of the upcoming 2026 Winter Olympics, Metoděj Jílek (*June 11, 2006) has been performing exceptionally well, having officially broke the 3000m world record during the Salt Lake City preliminary race. The 20-year-old Nora Eskila Ervika improved on Jílek’s time by an impressive 4.76 seconds, setting the new record at 3:32.52 minutes.

The oldest sports? Horse racing and football

The title of the oldest sporting event in our country belongs to the Great Pardubice, which was first held on November 5, 1874. There have been several occasions when bad weather disrupted the races, including during the war and in 1968. In 1909, the Great Pardubice took place, but miraculously no horse finished the race: four horses entered, yet one fell ill, two of them fell, and the remaining one didn’t complete within the time limit. A similar situation occurred in 1920, when the only horse to finish was later disqualified for exceeding the time limit.

The Taxis Trench, recognized as the most treacherous obstacle in the Great Pardubice, is named after the historical Thurn-Taxis family, former owners of a castle in Loučná. In 1889, when Prince Erich Thurn-Taxis returned from his studies in Cambridge, he brought with him the rules of football among other things. He founded the first castle team and managed to organize a match with the Vienna Regatta in 1893, which was then the top team in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The Lauschen kicking team wore striped jerseys in red and blue, reflecting the princely colors of the Thurn-Taxis, which remain the colors of the Louvain football club to this day.

The very first recorded football match in Czech territory, however, was likely held a bit earlier in Roudnice nad Labem, where members of the local Sokol and the rowing club CAC, also known as the Czech Athletic Club, participated. The monument in Roudnice marks the year 1887, although some references suggest it was played five years later.

Czech sports records

• • If you guessed that the largest sports stadium in the Czech Republic is the Strahov Stadium located in Prague, you would be correct. It first opened for training purposes in 1926 during the VIIIth All-Sokol Meeting and later became the site for enormous socialist spartakiads. This stadium can hold up to 220,000 spectators for concerts and is widely used as a training facility for Sparta football. It has been recognized as a cultural monument since 2003.

• • The biggest ice rink belongs to the sizable multi-purpose O2 Arena situated in Prague’s Vysočany neighborhood. This arena, which accommodates around 100 events a year, officially opened during the 2004 Ice Hockey World Championship. The auditorium can seat up to 18,000 spectators, with the capacity adjusting depending on whether it’s hosting ice hockey, concerts, or athletic events.

• • The most famous football stadium is the iconic Eden or Fortuna Arena, located in Prague’s Vršovice. It accommodates 20,800 spectators and is home to the SK Slavia Prague team for their matches. Additionally, you can visit the largest football museum in the Czech Republic, known as the Slavia Museum.

• • Rowing has deep roots here as well. The inaugural races were organized to celebrate the arrival of the first train to Prague in August 1845, and in 1860, the Žofín club, the first rowing association, which was called the English Rowing Club, drew inspiration from England, the home of modern rowing. The oldest rowing competition, now part of the June May Day, took place in 1895.

• • The Czech Lawn Tennis Club is recognized as the oldest tennis club in the country. It was founded in 1893, originally on Střelecký ostrov, and five years later, it relocated to its present site on Štvanice.

• • To wrap things up with a wintry highlight: Prague has become the cradle of Czech skiing. The first skis were brought here in 1887 from Norway by the sports pioneer Josef Rössler-Ořovský, who, alongside his brother, made history by taking the first ski trip through Wenceslas Square. They also embarked on their first experimental skiing rides around Stromovka, capturing the public’s attention.