On Wednesday, 21 February, a press conference for the Czech Indoor Gala 2026 took place at the Adria Hotel on Wenceslas Square in Prague. The guests included the President of the Czech Athletic Federation (ČAS), Libor Varhaník, along with athletes Tereza Petržilková, Matěj Krsek and Filip Sasínek.
At the opening of the press conference, ČAS President Libor Varhaník took the floor.
“It is my great pleasure to announce that the meeting will once again be of very high quality this year. Interest from both domestic and international athletes in competing at the Czech Indoor Gala is enormous. We can look forward to a number of medalists from the Olympic Games, World Championships and European Championships. Eight of the twelve meeting record holders will return to Ostrava. We believe it will be a spectacular start to the season. The announced participation guarantees quality. I am extremely pleased that the event sold out very quickly. Those who do not make it into the arena this time will still have a great opportunity to see our best athletes at the end of February and beginning of March at the Czech Indoor Championships, which will also take place in Ostrava and for which tickets are already on sale,” he invited fans to another highlight of the indoor season.
Will Klaver Win for the Fourth Time in a Row? Manuel Will Challenge Her
The women’s 400 metres is traditionally one of the main attractions of the Czech Indoor Gala, and this year will be no exception. Dutch star Lieke Klaver will be aiming for her fourth victory at this meeting. The 2025 European indoor champion from Apeldoorn and silver medalist from the 2024 World Indoor Championships in Glasgow is also the meeting record holder, having clocked an excellent 50.54 in Ostrava two years ago. The nine-time relay medalist from Olympic Games and World Championships, both indoor and outdoor, will compete at the Czech Indoor Gala for the fifth time.
“I’m really looking forward to racing in Ostrava again this year. I hope I can win for the fourth year in a row,” she said.
Trying to make her path to another victory more difficult will be her training partner from Laurent Meuwly’s group, junior world champion and fourth-place finisher at last year’s European Indoor Championships, Lurdes Gloria Manuel. One of the greatest hopes of Czech athletics unfortunately had to miss the entire 2025 outdoor season due to injury, which gives her even greater motivation to succeed in the upcoming indoor season. “I’m really looking forward to returning to the Czech Republic after such a long period of preparation. I can’t wait for the race itself. I think it will be very interesting considering who will be on the start line,” said the anchor of last year’s European Indoor bronze medal relay.
Ostrava should also welcome two more members of that bronze relay team, Tereza Petržilková and Lada Vondrová, who has already experienced what it is like to win at the Czech Indoor Gala, having done so in 2020.
“For me, it’s a great honor to be among such an elite group of athletes. Preparation for the season has gone well, so I believe I’ll be able to benefit from that at the Czech Indoor Gala. It’s the key race of this indoor season for me, the one everything has been leading up to, and I’m really looking forward to it,” said Tereza Petržilková.
Fans can also look forward to Slovak representative Emma Zapletalová, who won world bronze in the 400 metres hurdles in Tokyo a few months ago, as well as former European champion Justyna Święty-Ersetic, who will represent the traditionally strong Polish 400 m school.
Will Molnár Attack the European Record Again?
Still only 23 years old, Hungarian 400 m runner Attila Molnár attacked the continental indoor record at last year’s Czech Indoor Gala, a mark currently jointly held by Norway’s Karsten Warholm and Germany’s Thomas Schönlebe. With a new meeting record of 45.08, he missed the European record by just three hundredths of a second. He later claimed the European indoor title in Apeldoorn, and according to information from a December training camp in South Africa, he is in top form again this year.
“It’s my pleasure to announce that I’ll be returning to Ostrava again this year. I’m really looking forward to the race because I’d like to improve the meeting record once more. I hope a lot of fans come, because it will be an amazing show,” said Molnár ahead of his third start at the Czech Indoor Gala.
Matěj Krsek will certainly try to push him toward another career-best performance. The finalist from the 2023 European Indoor Championships and the 2024 World Indoor Championships achieved exactly that in Ostrava last year, finishing third in a personal best of 45.85 behind Molnár and Poland’s Maxymilian Szwed.“It definitely won’t be an easy race in Ostrava. I’m especially looking forward to Attila, because we’re good friends and I enjoy racing against him. We competed against each other at the Czech Indoor Gala last year as well, and this year I certainly don’t want to give him anything for free. My preparation for the previous two indoor seasons was affected by training interruptions, but this year everything has gone smoothly, so hopefully it will show in the race. I’m looking forward to the Ostrava crowd. I always prefer racing at home rather than abroad,” said Krsek.
Italian Edoardo Scotti returns to the Czech Indoor Gala after four years and will compete here for the third time. In 2023 he ran his current indoor personal best of 46.41 in Ostrava. He would certainly like to improve it significantly, especially after lowering the national outdoor record to 44.45 last year and finishing as the best European at the World Championships in Tokyo.
World Champion Targets a Third Meeting Record
The main star of the men’s 3000 metres is expected to be Portugal’s Isaac Nader. He will compete at the Czech Indoor Gala for the third consecutive time and broke the meeting record on each of his previous two appearances, in the 1500 metres and the mile. This year he will be attacking another meeting record, currently held since 2018 by Bahrain’s Mohammed Tiouali with a time of 7:44.58.
Last year, Nader first won bronze at the European Indoor Championships in Apeldoorn and then celebrated the greatest success of his career to date by claiming the world title over 1500 metres in Tokyo. His start will be particularly interesting to watch, as this will be his first more serious race over 3000 metres.
Additional quality in the field is provided by athletes such as 2024 European Championships bronze medalist Pietro Arese of Italy or Belgian John Heymans. Filip Sasínek will be looking to use this strong competition to produce his best possible performance. A regular participant at the Czech Indoor Gala, his ambition this year is to break the national record. “I believe the strongest possible competition will come to Ostrava. It can be expected to be a very fast race, with the 7:30 barrier under threat. Given that the Czech Indoor Gala is a Gold meeting and the disciplines rotate, it was clear that the 3000 metres would be run this year. I adjusted my preparation accordingly and I’d like to break the Czech record.”