Photogallery from Saturday’s races of Viessmann Junior Biathlon Cup 2016, held in Osrblie, Slovakia between 8th and 10th January. My task was to photograph the member of Stars for Stars – Miroslav Pavlak (bib number 23). And he did very well – he managed to win the U19 junior race.
Just before Christmas, I had the opportunity to photograph the Sportsperson of the Year 2015 in Slovakia Gala. Many awarded sportsmen and women from the top 10 appeared in person, including Matej Toth (World Champion in Race walking), Marek Hamsik (SSC Napoli player and the captain of Slovak football team), Jan Kozak (Head Coach of the Slovak football team), Erik Varga (Sports shooter specializing in Trap) and Anastasia Kuzmina (Two times Olympic champion in Biathlon Sprint and the Sportsperson of the Year 2014). This year’s winner – Peter Sagan was absent and his father Lubomir accepted the award on his behalf. Hosts of the evening: Milan “Junior” Zimnykoval, Marcel Forgac, Marcel Merciak. Musical guests: Dara Rolins and Samuel Tomecek.
On December 1st 2015 I photographed the 8th edition of Tennis Champions Exhibition in Bratislava. This year’s line-up had Mats Wilander, Pat Cash, Mansour Bahrami, Yannick Noah, Petra Kvitova and Anna Karolina Schmiedlova. Barbara Schett – Wilander’s co-host on Eurosport’s “Game, Set & Mats” made a surprising appearance. The score is not important in this kind of events. People were definitely entertained, especially by the showmanship of Mansour Bahrami and Yannick Noah.
My photos from the 22nd edition of Tennis Player of the Year in Slovakia. The winners are: Tereza Mihalikova (best female junior of the year), Alex Molcan (best male junior of the year), Galea cup winners (best tennis team of the year), Marek Gergely (best wheelchair tennis player of the year), Anna Karolina Schmiedlova (best female tennis player and most popular tennis player of the year), Martin Klizan (best male player of the year). Musical guest of the evening: Adam Durica and his band.
In november 2015, I photographed the 16th annual Slovak Open. This year, both men and women competed for the title. Egor Gerasimov became the winner of men’s singles, defeating the two-times champion Lukas Lacko. Jesika Maleckova became the winner of women’s singles after a three set victory over 1st seeded Anna Kalinina.
In September 2015 I was commissioned by B&D Agency to shoot the entire week of Arimex Challenger Open in Trnava, which is the larges men’s tournament in Slovakia held on clay. This small tournament has several respectable players in the line-up each year, thanks to the good work of Dominik Hrbaty (Tournament director) and the team at B&D. This year’s edition had Dutch winners. Robin Haase claimed the singles title. The doubles title went to Wesley Koolhof and Matwe Middelkoop. Here’s my selection of photos from the entire week. Warning: Contains ONE NSFW Photo.
At the end of August, I attended the Slovak International Air Fest 2015 in Sliac. This large airshow is usually plagued by bad weather, but this year it was rather OK. The highlight of this year’s edition were Frecce Tricolori – a demonstration team of Italy’s Aeronautica Militare.
In August 2015, I attended the Summer Masters Equestrian competitions in Samorin. The races were held in the beautiful Hippo arena. Many well-known riders from Slovakia and abroad attended. The event also had an evening exhibition session.
In June 2015, I briefly visited Prague. This was my third visit to this beautiful, but crowded city. It was also the first time I was able to shoot properly at least some of the landmarks. I’m already looking forward to my next visit, because there is so much to photograph in Prague.
In June 2015, I photographed the Gateway to Space exhibition in Prague. This exciting exhibition maps the achievements of space exploration from the early days to present times. There were severa scaled-down and full scale models, including the Space Shuttle cockpit, sections of MIR space station and several space suits.
