The Czech Indoor Gala (CIG) is approaching fast and the organizers are revealing the names of the next stars who will perform in the Ostrava arena on Tuesday, February 4. Among them is Ethiopian 800m runner Tsige Duguma, another Olympic medallist from Paris.
The Czech Indoor Gala is ranked in the highest gold category of the World Athletics Indoor Tour series for the second consecutive year and is one of the nine elite indoor meets of this season. Thanks to this, the provisional start lists offer some truly top names who can boast medal successes from the Olympic Games and World Championships.
A packed half mile led by an Olympic medallist
The women’s 800m race promises to be a very interesting spectacle as top competition will line up, led by one of last season’s biggest running discoveries, Tsige Duguma. The 23-year-old runner from Ethiopia only started running the eight hundred in 2023, but she completed a single race at this distance.
However, she entered the following season in style and crowned her entry into the top ranks with a shocking World Indoor Championships title in Glasgow. She then travelled to the Olympic Games in Paris as one of the favourites and under five rings she confirmed the assumptions, when she only lost to the sovereign British Keely Hodgkinson and took silver from the French capital.
Noélie Yarigo, another medallist from last year’s World Indoor will also come to Ostrava. Benin representative ran in Glasgow at the age of thirty-eight for her biggest career success in the form of world bronze under roof.
Gabriela Gajanová of Slovakia also had the season of her life, reaching the silver podium at the European Championships in Rome and then improving her own national record to 1:58.22 in the semi-finals at the Olympic Games (11th place). “It will be my first competition in this indoor season and I am looking forward to compete against the best,” she said looking forward to her start at the CIG.
Australian Catriona Bisset, who holds the Oceania record with an outdoor personal best of 1:57.78, adds to the already good line-up of international competitors. The British Jennifer Meadows‘ 2:01.67 course record should thus certainly be in danger.
The Czech top team, led by our current 800m leader Kimberley Ficenec, who last year became the eighth fastest Czech woman in history with a time of 2:00.68, will also want to take advantage of the strong competition to push their personal bests. Last year’s European junior champion Adéla Holubová will be looking to make her mark against much older opponents.
It will also be interesting to watch the start of Germany’s Alica Schmidt, who has so far specialized in the 400 metres and has run the relays in the World and European Championships finals. “I am currently in South Africa preparing for the upcoming indoor season. I am super excited to run one of my first ever 800 metre race in Ostrava. And I can’t wait to see guys there,” says Schmidt, one of the most followed athletes on social media.
Experience and the upcoming generation against Czech quarter-milers
The men’s 400 metres is a traditional event at the Czech Indoor Gala and it is not missing from the programme this year. Home Vít Müller, 400m hurdles specialist, will be defending his victory from last year.
On the other hand, Matěj Krsek, the sixth man of last year’s World Indoor, wants to strive for his first triumph at this event. “Every year my appetite for racing grows,” says Krsek, “especially in front of the Czech public who already know me well. This will be my third indoor start, so I believe I will be fired up and will put in a good performance. I will go into the race with the lessons learned from last year, so I will be prepared for every scenario,“ he believes.
There is also another bronze medallist from the mixed relay at the World Championships in Budapest Patrik Šorm. His individual achievements include fifth place from 2022 World Indoor in Belgrade.
Czech “quarter-milers” will face a wide range of opponents. Synonymous with experience is the Dutchman Liemarvin Bonevacia, who last year, at the masters age of thirty-five, was more than able to compete with opponents almost a generation younger than him at the Euro in Rome and went on to win continental bronze, the second in his long and rich career.
Bonevacia also has two medals of equal value from the European Indoor Championships and a string of successes with Dutch relays, including Olympic silver from the Tokyo 2021 Games, where he also ran the 400m flat final. He will be competing at the Czech Indoor Gala for the third time in a row. “I am excited to start the indoor season in Ostrava. I am looking forward to a fast race,” says one of traditional rivals of Pavel Maslak who made farewell to his professional career last year.
On the other hand, the young guns include two more foreign stars. Hungarian Attila Molnár was already looking for victory at the Czech Indoor Gala last year, but he was beaten by Vít Müller by tiny margin of 0.02 second. The 2024 season was otherwise very successful for him, however, as he ran to fifth place at the World Indoor in Glasgow and finished sixth at the European Championships in Rome.
Switzerland’s Ricky Petrucciani is the European Vice-Champion from the 2022 Munich Championships and will make his debut at the Ostrava Gala. Jamaican Edino Steele’s course record is 46.11, which is certainly within the reach of all of mentioned.
Czech Olympians will face the European champion
The men’s 200 metres shall feature the complete trio of Czech Olympic athletes from Paris. Eduard Kubelík will try to follow up last year’s success, who in his triumph even attacked the meet record. The Cuban Reynier
Mena effort was only two hundredths faster though, while Kubelík became the second fastest Czech indoor at 200m after Pavel Maslak with a time of 20.66.
Tomáš Němejc shone later in the season at the European Championships in Rome, where he advanced to the final, in which he took a very flattering sixth place. Ondřej Macík, the outdoor Czech record holder, will try to make a comeback after a disappointing 2024 season.
However, our sprinters will not have it easy at all. The surprising European champion from Rome Timothé Mumenthaler from Switzerland, who dominated last year’s continental championship with a top time of 20.28, will come to Ostrava. He is also a European U23 bronze medallist from Espoo 2023.
Ján Volko, the former European U23 champion and three-time European Indoor medallist in the 60 metres, must not miss the Czech Indoor Gala, too.
The Czech Indoor Gala is supported by the Moravian-Silesian Region.