I’m Michal Kopeček and my friends call me Kopec.I’m from Czech republic, Planá nad Lužnicí where i still live and studying.

I have a passion for water sports from really young age. From 3 years i was swimming, then when i was 4 my dad took me to tourist paddling trip and i fell in love with it. But there was one thing i hated so much. Because i was in boat with dad he always guided me through the easiest parts of river but i wanted to thewaves and stoppers.

Then one of my dad’s friend came to our trip with kayak and from that moment i knew what i really want to do.

In half a year i started kayaking with my dad in České Budějovice. After few years my parents put me to canoe slalom team in Tábor.

At the begining i hated canoe slalom so much and i wanted to stick with plastic boat. After few months i started to like canoe slalom and then i just fell in love with it.

I had a lot of dreams, what i want to achieve in this sport. Few of them i already achieved, but the main one which is olympics is still the biggest one.

In 2022 i started trying kayak cross.

I didn’t really like it for 1,5 years and i didn’t want to do it. In 2024 after i finished 20th at junior World championships.

I bought Barracuda. I was deciding which boat i will buy and Barracuda became my pick.

It looked like it is super fast boat but also really funny one. I didn’t want pure kayak cross boat with fins because i like to play with it, jumping over the rocks,…

After a year and a half of paddling Barracuda, i can surely say that it is an absolute beast. It’s comparable to cross boats like RTM or Ripper but still much funnier then they are.

I’ve became junior European champion in kayak cross and i was 8 th on Worlds. I’m really grateful that i’ve became a part of Spade, because Spade team have the same passion for paddling as i have.

Kopec

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