The sports duo Valesi and Bidař will also compete in the free skates at the World Figure Skating Championships.

The packed O₂ arena watched the opening ceremony from 6 p.m., which was performed by the synchronized skating group Olympia Praha and the acrobatic group AirGym Art Company under the direction of Michal Caban. Then the sports couples took to the ice with their short programs. The Czech couple Anna Valesi and Martin Bidař also took the stage as the third in line. For a long time, it looked like a fall after a triple lutz throw would cost them a place in the free skates, but in the end, a score of 56.58 points was enough for them to finish in 20th place, which guarantees them a place in the free skates.

“We had a lot of fun, the audience was really amazing right from the start. It was a real riot and it was great to see all those Czech flags,” they agreed after the skate. They were sorry that they did not show the home audience the kind of skate they wanted. “We are better at both the twisted jump and the thrown lutz, which we haven’t actually fallen on once lately, until here…,” they added a little disappointedly.

A few dozen minutes later, however, Anna was smiling and Martin was processing the shock. “To be honest, I was already at the hotel and didn’t really count on progress,” admitted Bidař. Anna was outside the hall with her mother at the time. “I didn’t watch the other performances, I just said to myself after a while that I would check how the competition was going, and suddenly I tell my mother: ‘We did it, we’re in the clear’ and Martin wrote to me about it,” added the partner with her typical smile.

Both came to support their families and are planning to be here tomorrow too, when the first set of medals will be awarded in the sports pairs category on Thursday evening. “We are happy to have another chance to show this fantastic audience what we really can do,” they agreed and added their wishes: “We hope that the audience in the O₂ arena will be even louder!”

The Germans Minerva Fabienne Hase (79.78 points) are currently leading, just ahead of Georgians Anastasia Metelkina and Luka Berulava (79.45 points) and Hungarians Maria Pavlova and Alexei Sviatchenko (69.92 points) are third.

The free skates of the sports pairs begin on Thursday, March 26 at 6:15 p.m.