The Czech hockey players failed in the Beijing Olympics, finishing outside the elite eight for the first time in a big tournament. That’s why they risk having to qualify for the next games in Milan and Cortina.
The problem is not only the unsuccessful pre-round of the playoffs in China, where Filip Pešán’s charges lost to Switzerland 2: 4. Overall, there is a long medal drought in the Czech Republic.
They won the last medal at the 2012 World Cup, a decade back. They have slipped into the semifinals only once since the 2015 domestic championship.
V world hockey rankings they are gradually losing their reputation. Gone are the days when they occupied the elite three.
It is this ranking that is the key to participating in the Olympics. Since the 2006 Turin Games, the top eight countries and the organizer have been advancing. The remaining three places are played in the qualification.
The model changes only in details. And if the hockey leaders do not adjust anything compared to the 2018 and 2022 Olympics, the world rankings after the 2023 World Cup will be decisive for the Milan and Cortina Games.
It will include the results of all championships since 2020, as well as the Beijing Olympics, a total of five tournaments. Three of them are already scored.
The Czechs so far have 1,495 points and are ninth behind Slovakia, Switzerland and Germany, ie outside the directly advancing eight. They pay extra for the loser in China and a dull performance at the last World Cup, where they finished seventh. They received the fifth best score according to the then world rankings for the 2020 championship, which did not take place at all due to the coronavirus.
For a better understanding – up to 1200 points can be obtained at the championships and the Olympic Games. The Czechs took only 960 of them from China. All of them will be included in the ranking for 2022, which has not yet been published. In the future ranking of 2023, key for the next Olympics, however, the “Beijing” points will weigh only 75 percent, which makes a value of 720. Overall, every year in the past, it’s 25 percent down. The ranking thus gives more weight to newer tournaments.
So there are still a lot of points in the game. But the Czechs have to work. For example, if they finish eighth in the next two championships, they will have 3245 points, which may not be enough to advance directly to Milan and Cortina.
In the case of Pyongyang 2018, the last directly advancing team had 3160 points, in Beijing 2022 it was 3325 points.
It will depend on how the Czech Republic’s closest competitors do, ie Slovaks, Swiss, Germans, but also Danes.
Table: The Czechs are still behind the edge of direct progress to the next Winter Olympics. They can improve their current ninth place at the next two world championships.
| Order | Earth | Body |
| 1. | Finland | 1760 |
| 2. | Mask | 1690 |
| 3. | Canada | 1680 |
| 4. | USA | 1615 |
| 5. | Sweden | 1580 |
| Slovakia | 1580 | |
| 7. | Switzerland | 1520 |
| 8. | Germany | 1510 |
| 9. | Czechia | 1495 |
| 10. | Denmark | 1440 |
Despite qualifying, the Slovaks made it to the past Olympics, and due to their relatively high position in the rankings at the time, they jumped to its final stage. They had to leave Belarus, Austria and Poland behind in a four-member group, which they succeeded in thanks to the domestic environment.
The qualification has already offered some surprising results. The Germans did not advance to Sochi in 2014, the Swiss did not reappear in Nagano in 1998, although a few months later they finished fourth at the World Cup.
If the Czechs eventually fall into qualifying, they could probably rely on the NHL stars in it, as its final phase takes place at the turn of August and September, when overseas club camps are not yet beginning.
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