[5] His brother Michal is also a judoka who served as a sparring partner for the Czech judo team at the 2012 Summer Olympics.

From 2007, he was part of the national junior judo team, which was then led by Krpálek's current coach Petr Lacina.

Later in 2009 Krpálek was defeated in the final of the Junior European Judo Championships by Elmar Gasimov of Azerbaijan, who would become his great rival at senior level.

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.

[17] As a result, he was unable to train for a month; nonetheless he was able to win the Prague Grand Prix tournament in February.

With one minute remaining Krpálek was leading by one yuko, awarded after his successful Ōuchi gari technique.

Fighting on the ground, Khaibulaev was able to get away from his opponents grip, then he proceeded to successfully hold Krpálek and was awarded an ippon.

After the defeat Krpálek faced Henk Grol in a repechage, and again lost by ippon, this time via Ōuchi gari.

At the beginning of 2014 Krpálek was able to again reach the final of the Judo Grand Slam Paris, where he was defeated by the home judoka Cyrille Maret.

In the second half of the match Krpálek won by ippon via Oseakomi waza, winning his first senior world title.

[29] In 2016 he once again participated in Grand Slam Paris, where he lost to the Japanese judoka Aaron Wolf in the second round.

[30] Despite a shoulder injury, he decided to take part in 2016 European Judo Championships, where he lost to Grigori Minaskin in the first round.

Fonseca took an early lead after being awarded a yuko, but towards the end of the match Krpálek's physical superiority became apparent.

[37] In January 2022, Krpalek announced that he would switch back to under 100 kg division (Light Heavyweight) to pursue his third Olympic gold medal.

[38] This would make him the first judoka in history to win three Olympic gold medals in two different weight classes.

As a junior Krpálek with his coach practised ground techniques especially, however in the senior category many of his opponents are able to defend against such attacks.

His signature moves became the Osoto gari in combination with Harai goshi or Uchi mata, yet Sumi gaeshi remained his Tokui waza (favorite personal technique).