Right at the start of 2026, the organizers of the Czech Indoor Gala are unveiling more big names. Flat and hurdle sprints will be among the highlights of this year’s edition of the World Athletics Indoor Tour Gold meeting.
Maňasová set to face elite rivals
If anyone knows the Ostrava indoor arena inside out, it is sprinter Karolína Maňasová. The athlete coached by Ivo Pištěk will be keen to take advantage of the home environment and deliver another standout performance similar to last year’s Czech Indoor Gala, where she finished third behind winner Patrizia van der Weken of Luxembourg and Polish star Ewa Swoboda. That race launched a highly successful season in which she improved her own national 60 m record to 7.10, reached the final of the European Indoor Championships in Apeldoorn, and won the European U23 title in the 100 m in Bergen.
“I’m really looking forward to the Czech Indoor Gala. I’m slowly counting down the days. Racing in my home arena makes me even more excited. The start list will be packed again, so we can expect a great race. I hope to fully capitalize on the strong competition and produce a good performance,” Maňasová said, looking ahead to her Ostrava start.
Repeating last year’s strong showing will be anything but easy, as top-class rivals will once again line up against her. Among them will be defending champion Patrizia van der Weken, who won the 2025 Czech Indoor Gala in 7.08, edging Ewa Swoboda by just one hundredth of a second. She later sprinted to bronze medals at both the European Indoor Championships in Apeldoorn and the World Indoor Championships in Nanjing. This will be her fourth appearance at the Czech Indoor Gala.
Making her debut at the meeting will be Italy’s Zaynab Dosso. One of the breakout sprint stars of the past two seasons, she enjoyed an outstanding indoor campaign in 2025. In Apeldoorn, she claimed the European indoor title in 7.01, a time that ranks her sixth on the all-time European list, and then went on to win silver at the World Indoor Championships in Nanjing. The women’s 60 m thus promises to be one of the true gems of this year’s Czech Indoor Gala.
The meeting record, set by Ewa Swoboda in 2024, stands at 7.07.
Record holder returns in the hurdles
Another major attraction will be the women’s 60 m hurdles. After two years, Poland’s Pia Skrzyszkowska returns to Ostrava. A multiple medalist at both European and World Indoor Championships, she crowned her last appearance at the Czech Indoor Gala with a meeting record of 7.82, which still stands today. Her Polish national record of 7.74 makes her the seventh-fastest European in history over this distance. This year, she will be chasing her third victory in Ostrava, having also triumphed there in 2021.
Her main challenger should be Nadine Visser of the Netherlands, currently one of the world’s leading hurdlers. The fourth-place finisher in the 100 m hurdles final at the Paris Olympic Games improved her personal best to 12.28 last season, moving her up to fifth on the all-time European list. She is equally formidable indoors, being a two-time European indoor champion over 60 m hurdles. Her medal collection also includes bronze from the 2018 World Indoor Championships and silver from the European Indoor Championships in 2023 and 2025. Last year in Apeldoorn, she lowered the Dutch national record to 7.72, making her the fourth-fastest European ever in this event. She is still waiting for her first victory at the Czech Indoor Gala, having finished second in both 2023 and 2024.
The home crowd will undoubtedly be cheering on the Czech elite, led by Helena Jiranová, Ester Bendová and Tereza Elena Šínová, who will face a tough test against the world’s best hurdlers.
Kolomazník to challenge Europe’s second-fastest hurdler in history
Czech men’s hurdlers, led by current national number one Jonáš Kolomazník, can also look forward to a big-name opponent. Poland’s Jakub Szymański has confirmed his start at the Czech Indoor Gala. He competed here in 2023, finishing third, but will be one of the top favorites this time. Last season, he set a national record of 7.39 at his home meeting in Łódź, and the only European ever to run the 60 m hurdles faster is legendary Brit and former world record holder Colin Jackson. Szymański also showcased his form at the European Indoor Championships in Apeldoorn, where he claimed gold.
Further quality will be added by the 2019 European indoor champion Milan Trajković of Cyprus. As a result, the meeting record of 7.51 set by Cuba’s Dayron Robles could well be under threat.