The center of Czech speed skating will be Brno

Brno - Speed skating is returning to Brno after nearly twenty years. A team of former Czechoslovak speed skaters and coaches has begun collaboration with the skating school of the university sports club Technika Brno, from which they aim to discover young speed skating talents. The name of the new club and its management will be presented to the public on Friday during the ceremonial opening of the new Technika hall with two rinks at the Brno Boby Center.
    The Brno mayor Roman Onderka and Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek are invited to the Friday event. "Both should connect with speed skater Martina Sáblíková via a telebridge, who is in Calgary, Canada, where she will be competing for the overall victory in the long distances at the World Cup on Saturday," Aleš Pohanka, consultant for the implementation Novis Team, told journalists in Brno today.
    According to Vera Břínková, the coach of the newly established team and a former Czechoslovak record holder in speed skating as well as a current coach of track cycling, this is only the first step towards reviving this sport. "The second step is the effort to build a 400-meter ice oval in Brno, where competitions can regularly take place. There is none in the entire Czech Republic, and given the successes of representatives such as Sáblíková or Jirků, it should be a concern for the Brno City Council or perhaps the Ministry of Education as well," Břínková told ČTK. She stated that the provisional facilities of the club in the Technika halls are currently sufficient for beginners in this sport.
    The new hall with a 400-meter oval has been discussed in Brno for several years. Currently, two options are under consideration. One involves the construction of a peak sports center in the university campus in Brno-Bohunice, while the second will only be presented on Friday, former head of the economic department of the Brno City Council and current assistant of the Novis Team Roman Čermák told ČTK today.
    It is the successes of this team, led by national coach Petr Novák, whose trainees include not only Martina Sáblíková but also the recently crowned junior world champion at 3000 meters Andrea Jirků, that pushed for the revival of speed skating in Brno. "I would really welcome a new hall. It is bad that we have to go abroad for training. I have been in school for about a month this school year; Martina maybe five days," Jirků told journalists today.
    According to Čermák, the new hall with an ice oval would cost around 500 to 800 million crowns. Discussions about where it could ultimately be built and who should construct and operate it are still ongoing.