Photogallery from Europa League 2019/2020 Play Off between SK Slovan Bratislava and PAOK FC Thessaloniki. The match was played on August 22nd 2019 at Tehelne Pole in Bratislava, Slovakia. I was tasked to cover PAOK FC players (played in black jerseys during the match). The game was intense and we even get to see a pitch invader in 2nd half. The home team scored a goal in the extended time and won 1:0.
Slovak International Air Fest is the largest air show in Slovakia, that usually takes place at the end of August. This year saw the change of date to first weekend of August and the return of world-famous Frecce Tricolori acrobatic group from Italy. Other than that, the performances were a little disappointing compared to previous editions.
The multi-week X-Bionic Summer Tour, held in beautiful X-Bionic Equestor Sphere in Samorin always offers great equestrian events. This year for the first time in Slovakia, the CAI2*-H4 Combined Marthon took place over several days. A grand finale with 6 carriages took place on July 28th. My photos are from July 21st and July 28th. If only the weather was as great as is the norm in Samorin…
On April 20 – 21st, Team Slovakia played against Team Brazil during the 2019 Fed Cup Play Offs. The winning team would secure the position among top 16 Tennis teams of the World. It was also the last Fed Cup tie for Dominika Cibulkova. She decided to retire from Fed Cup and other team competitions in front of the home fans after playing in Fed Cup for 14 years.
Results: Dominika Cibulkova : Carolina Alves – 6:1, 6:1. Viktoria Kuzmova : Beatriz Haddad Maia – 6:3, 6:3. Dominika Cibulkova : Beatriz Haddad Maia – 7:6, 6:0, Viktoria Kuzmova, Rebecca Sramkova : Carolina Alves, Luisa Stefani – 1:6, 3:6.
On February 1st and 2nd, the new format of Davis Cup was played for the first time with 24 teams competing for a spot in newly established Davis Cup Finals held in Madrid. The Canadian team led by rising star Denis Shapovalov and playing captain Frank Dancevic faced Slovak team for the first time in almost 22 years. Bratislava saw 5 high quality rubbers played on clay over the two days with Felix Auger Aliassime securing the win for Canadians in the deciding 5th rubber against Norbert Gombos.
Results: Filip Horansky : Denis Shapovalov – 4:6, 5:7, Martin Klizan : Felix Auger-Aliassime – 7:5, 6:3, Martin Klizan, Filip Polasek : Felix Auger-Aliassime, Denis Shapovalov – 3:6, 7:5, 6:3, Martin Klizan : Denis Shapovalov – 6:7, 4:6, Norbert Gombos : Felix Auger-Aliassime – 3:6, 4:6
Photogallery from 2018 Viessmann Cup Round 1 in Osrblie, Slovakia. Around 90 biathletes in 11 categories competed in sprint on December 29th, 2018.
Personal notes: Sometimes you go in with the best intentions and things just… don’t work out. Despite the nice early afternoon weather, at times I found it more difficult to shoot than last year’s “blizzard edition”. Not much (capture-worthy) was happening on the track, the scheduling was way too tight so moving around was difficult at best. And my gear’s ability to produce decent results was a no show as well – probably still finishing the Christmas dinner leftovers. As they say: on some days, it’s indeed no picnic.
In mid-octobe 2018, I made a one day trip to Banska Stiavnica to see how the city looked during the peak of autumn colors. I was not disappointed. This time, my focus was on photographying the morning views of Old Castle and city itself, the well known antiquarian store on the main square, the underground “Love Vault”, which was featured on BBC International and of course the newly restored calvary complex, that was listed among the World’s Most Endangered Cultural Sites. I hope to be back to our UNESCO World Heritage Site jewel soon, hopefully during the upcomin winter season.
Summer Biathlon Championships of Slovakia 2018 on roller skis took place in National Biathlon Center in Osrblie on August 4th and 5th. Unlike last year, no members of Slovak “A” Team were present (or Marwe Skis for that matter), just beautiful surroundings of Central Slovakia and mostly nice August weather. My photos are from Satuday’s sprint
X-Bionic Summer Tour 2018 was once again held in the beautiful X-Bionic Sphere in Samorin, Slovakia. Like last year, this equestrian event was stretched over two weeks. Due to other committments, I was only able to visit on Friday 27th of July. The competitions weren’t as strong as during the weekends and I also missed the popular evenig session which is held on Saturday. But even during the slow days, there are nice moments waiting to be captured…
The 10th edition of Empire Slovak Open 2018 took place from May 12th to May 20th 2018. For the first time, I shot this largest women’s tennis tournament in Slovakia as the official tournament photographer. Viktoria Kuzmova became the second Slovak player in tournament history to win the title. She beat Veronica Cepede-Royg of Paraguay in three sets. Other notable players in the main draw were Andrea Petkovic and two time Grand Slam finalist Vera Zvonareva. The schedule was very demanding, as two full days had to be cancelled because of the rain.
