The siblings won their first world title at the 1962 World Championships in their home city of Prague, defeating their greatest rivals, Christian and Jean Paul Guhel of France. Eva was 16 years old and Pavel was 19. One year later, they won the silver medal at the 1963 European Championships, behind Linda Shearman / Michael Phillips. After this competition they won every event they entered, winning the European title in 1964 and 1965, and World titles from 1962–65. Ice dancing was not yet an Olympic sport.