The Czech Indoor Gala is approaching very fast and already on Tuesday 30 January, the Ostrava athletics arena will host the gold meeting of the World Athletics Indoor Tour. The organizers are revealing the other stars who will compete in the north of Moravia.
Staněk vs New Zealand legend
The shot put competition promises to be a very attractive spectacle. The Czech record holder Tomáš Staněk (22.17) already has five precious metals from the major indoor international peaks to his credit. He last pleased the fans with the European indoor silver in Istanbul less than a year ago, where he also shone with a great performance of 21.90. In the past, Tomáš already managed to win twice at the Czech Indoor Gala when he triumphed in 2018 and 2021. He would like to shine in front of the home audience this year as well. „I look forward to going to Ostrava every year. As for the entries, it will be a very high quality competition. I feel better and better. The preparation is going according to plan, so I believe that I will be able to fight for the best possible position,“ he says.
However, the path to the third victory will be extremely difficult, as he will face several top rivals led by the New Zealander Tom Walsh. He is one of the most successful world shot putters over the last decade. With his impressive continental record of 22.90, he ranks sixth in the historical rankings. He won two Olympic bronze medals, became the 2017 world champion and even a two-time world indoor champion. At home, he also has a bronze from the 2019 World championships. It was in this historically best shot putt competition that he set the mentioned Oceania record. He will start at the Czech Indoor Gala for the first time, but knows Ostrava very well. He is a regular participant of the Ostrava Golden Spike, where he also won in 2018 and 2019. He is the hot candidate to break the four-year-old meeting record of Pole Konrad Bukowiecki, which has a value of 21.88. „I have been to Ostrava many times but this will be my first time at the Czech Indoor Gala. I am excited to open my 2024 season in front of some of the most knowledgeable and supportive Throws fans in the world,“ said Walsh.
However, in addition to Staňek and Walsh, the reigning European champion from Munich, Filip Mihaljevič of Croatia (21.94) can be one of the favorites too. Mihajlevič also reached the bronze at World indoor championships in Belgrade 2022 and European indoor championships in Toruń 2021. Speaking of the European indoor championships in Toruń, all three medalists from this event will appear in Ostrava this year. In addition to the then golden Staňek and bronze Mihaljevič, the Polish record holder Michal Haratyk, who took silver in Toruń and is the European champion from Berlin 2018, will also compete at the Czech Indoor Gala. Haratyk can be proud of his career best of 22.32 and is the winner of the most recent shot put competition within the CIG, which took place two years ago.
An attack on the old meeting record
One of the oldest meeting records is the one at the men’s 400m. This year, it will be 10 years since Jamaican Edino Steele set the time to 46.11. The complete line-up of the 400m Czech runners, who ran a national record at last year’s World Athletics Championships in Budapest, should attack this goal. The three-time world and European indoor champion Pavel Maslák and the fifth man of the last World indoor championships and bronze medallist from the mixed relay in Budapest Patrik Šorm will already have a meeting in Astana in their feet, so Ostrava will be their second sharp start this season.
However, the Czech runners will have very strong opponents from abroad. Hungarian rising star Atilla Molnár, who last year pushed the value of the national maximum of his homeland to 44.84 and took bronze at the European U23 Championship in Espoo, Finland, can be a candidate to win. High quality is also represented by Oleksandr Pohorilko, the owner of the six national Ukrainian titles with a personal best of 45.31.
Defending champion and the record holder over hurdles
American Alaysha Johnson will defend last year’s victory in the women´s 60m hurdles. She won last year in Ostrava with a time of 7.87 and her personal best is even better (7.82). Her career maximum in the 100m hurdles, which she can run in 12.35, is particularly outstanding. Last year, she won the precious US indoor title and the bronze at the Pan American Games.
Nadine Visser of the Netherlands, the meeting record holder will kneel in the blocks against her again. She moved the value of the record to 7.86 in the heat last year but lost to Johnson in the final. With a time of 7.77, Visser is the seventh fastest European woman in history at this distance and has a number of successes at major championships to her credit. She became the European indoor champion twice, and in Istanbul, she reached the silver medal last year. She is also a bronze medalist from the World indoors in 2018.
The Polish Pia Skrzyszkowska already knows what it’s like to win at the Czech Indoor Gala. She succeeded in 2021. The European champion from 2022 figures in the European historical statistics with a time of 7.78 right behind Visser. Another co-favourite of this event, the Finnish record holder Reetta Hurske, will ensure the highest quality. The European indoor champion from Istanbul has a personal best of 7.79. The Czech hurdlers by Helena Jiranová and Tereza Elena Šínová want to perform as well as possible.
The organizers of the Czech Indoor Gala are committed to fulfilling „The Athletics for a Better World Standard“ presented by the World Athletics in 2020, and thus fulfilling the requirements of sustainability in the economic, social and environmental fields.