Lukáš Krpálek
Krpálek at the 2016 Olympics
|
|
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Nationality | Czech |
| Born |
15 November 1990 Jihlava, Czechoslovakia |
| Height | 197 cm (6 ft 6 in) |
| Weight | 100 kg (220 lb) |
| Sport | |
| Sport | Judo |
| Event(s) | -100 kg |
| Club | USK Praha |
| Coached by | Petr Lacina |
|
Medal record
|
|
| Updated on 16 January 2015. | |
Lukáš Krpálek (born 15 November 1990) is a Czech heavyweight judoka. He is a former world champion (2014), former European champion (2014) and current Olympic Champion (2016). He is the most successful judoka in Czech and Czechoslovakian history, and was named Czech Judoka of the Year eight times between 2008 and 2015.
Krpálek took up judo by chance – he wanted to train in karate, but his uncle mistook the sport. His brother Michal is also a judoka who served as a sparring partner for the Czech judo team at the 2012 Summer Olympics. In 2015 Krpálek married Eva Kaderková; they have a son Antonín, born in 2016.
Krpálek is an avid motorcycle collecter and fisherman.
Krpálek took up judo when he was 7 years old in his hometown of Jihlava under the tutorship of Josef Šimáček. His first coach described him as very tall and slim with poor agility and technique. In 2005 Krpálek moved to a new club SCM Brno, where he was led by the coach Jaroslav Švec. In this year he also became a member of Czech national cadet judo team. In 2006 Krpálek achieved his first international success when he came in second at Cadet European Judo Championships. Since 2007 he's a part of the national junior judo team, which was then led by Krpálek's current coach Petr Lacina. His first major success in the junior category came in 2007 when he finished 5th at the Junior European Judo Championships. Next year Krpálek became both the world and the European junior champion.
On 6 June 2009 Krpálek won his first senior Grand Prix tournament in Bucuresti. In August the same year he participated in his first World Judo Championships, that year held in Rotterdam. He was defeated in the first round by the French judoka Cyrille Maret. Later in 2009 Krpálek was defeated in the final of Junior European Judo Championships by his later rival Elmar Gasimov of Azerbaijan. However Krpálek became the world junior champion that year again. In 2010 Krpálek slowly became one of the top judokas in his category. His biggest rival that year was the Japanese judoka Takamasa Anai. He defeated Krpálek in the final of Grand Prix in Düsseldorf and later in the World Championships in Tokyo again, this time in the third round. At the European Championships in 2011 Krpálek placed fifth after being defeated by two Georgian judokas. In June he won three Grand Prix tournaments in a row and became the first Czech judoka since independence of the country to win a medal at the World Judo Championships, when he won bronze medal in Paris.
...
Wikipedia