The last edition of the Czech Indoor Gala (CIG) offered several records of the event. Three stars will try to build on their last year’s records again at World Athletics Indoor Tour Gold meeting in Ostrava arena on February 4. In addition to them, there are also Czech leaders in the featured disciplines.
The Czech Indoor Gala is for the second year included in the highest ‘Gold’ category of the World Athletics Indoor Tour series and is one of the nine most elite indoor meets of the season. Thanks to this, the preliminary start lists offer some truly top names who can boast medal successes from the Olympic Games or World Championships.
Maňasová will challenge her favourite opponent
Karolína Maňasová experienced a big disappointment at last year’s CIG when her legs gave under her after the start, in a race she had been looking forward to for a long time. Shortly afterwards, however, she confirmed her quality at the national championships in front of home crowd, where she won in a new Czech record of 7.15. Later, she set a PB in the outdoor 100m when she was just two hundredths behind the Czech record of Jarmila Kratochvílová in the heats at the Paris Olympics with a time of 11.11 and also competed in the semi-finals.
Now Maňasová hopes for a success in Ostrava arena again. „It will be my second start of the season and I hope I will make it without any complications at the start this year. It’s a great opportunity to take advantage of the top competition to run a good time. I’m currently in the last stage of my preparation, which has gone very well. I am most looking forward to Ewa Swoboda. I’m a fan of hers, so I’m glad that we will meet in Ostrava,“ she looks out for her duel with the Polish star.
Swoboda has already managed to win twice at the CIG. The first time was in 2018 and the second time was last year, when she set a new meet record of 7.07. She then shone at the World Indoor Championships in Glasgow, where she sprinted to silver in a national record of 6.98, making her the fourth fastest European in the history of the indoor 60 metres. Later in the season, she took silver in the 100m under the open skies at the European Championships in Rome.
However, Swoboda will not be Maňasová’s only elite opponent. Second placer from last year, Luxembourg’s Patrizia van der Weken, who boasts a quality national record of 7.09, achieved last year will be present, too. She also improved her NR in the 100m to exactly 11 seconds. Van der Weken finished fourth at the continental championships in the Italian capital and also enjoyed her maiden victory in the Diamond League series when she dominated the 100m in Paris meeting.
An interesting acquisition will be Australian Torrie Lewis. Oceania’s junior record holder, silver medallist at the World U20 Championships in Lima and winner of the Diamond Race in Xiamen who has never raced indoors before.
Strong African competition for Sasínek Mäki
Kristiina Sasínek Mäki will run the 3000m race at the Czech Indoor Gala. The Tokyo Olympics finalist has been training in international group of runners with Swiss coach Louis Heyer since the autumn and will be looking to sell her new career momentum during the indoor season.
However, it will be extremely difficult for her, as African stars are coming to Ostrava. One of them is Ethiopian Freweyni Hailu. The 1500m world indoor champion from Glasgow 2024 dominated the one-mile race at last year’s Czech Indoor Gala and set a meeting record of 4:17.36, also the seventh fastest time all-time indoors.
We can also look forward to Sembo Almayew, her younger compatriot and junior world record holder in the steeplechase. Almayew finished fifth at the Paris Olympics and then clearly dominated the World U20 Championships in Lima. She was also recognised for her performance by World Athletics as Rising Star of the year.
Norah Jeruto, the World 3000m steeplechase champion from the 2022 Eugene Championships, will also be in action. The Kenyan-born athlete is representing Kazakhstan for the third year and is fifth on the all-time world list with her 2023 World Championships’ winning time of 8:53.02. She is another candidate to break the seven-year-old Kenyan Hellen Obiri’s 8:38.81 meeting record.
Will Nader add his second meeting record?
Portuguese runner Isaac Nader shone at last year’s Czech Indoor Gala, winning the 1500m in a new meet record of 3:34.23, a performance that also pushed his country’s national historic best. This year, he is eager for another record in the Ostrava indoor meet. This time he has his sights set on the two-year-old performance of Elzan Bibić of Serbia in the one-mile race.
Nader is a hot candidate to break it. Last year he was successful not only at the CIG, but also at the World Indoor Championships in Glasgow, where he finished fourth. Then, under the open sky, he also attacked the 3:30 mark at the 1500m, which he resisted by only 84 hundredths.
Elliot Giles, the man from whom Nader took the record at the 1500 away last year is also returning to Ostrava. The former bronze medallist from the European Championships in Amsterdam back in 2016 is also the second fastest man ever in the indoor 800m since 2021. He was less than a second behind the world record of the legendary Kenya-born Dane Wilson Kipketer with a time of 1:43.63.
The Czech record holder Filip Sasínek will try to take advantage of the company of top runners to do his best. He ran a national best of 3:57.62 at the Czech Indoor Gala 2023.
The Czech Indoor Gala is greatly supported by the Moravian-Silesian Region.