The organizers of the Czech Indoor Gala 2024 reveal another attractive competition that will take place as a part of this meeting. In the pole vault, home star Amálie Švábíková will compete with a three-time winner of the meet and its record holder Tina Šutej and the European indoor champion Angelica Moser.
The women´s pole vault as part of the upcoming Czech Indoor Gala in Ostrava invites traditional rivals to compete. Slovenia’s Tina Šutej always likes to return to the Ostrava arena, having won this meeting three times in the past. She won in 2020 for the first time, followed by triumphs in the 2021 and 2023 seasons. It was during her last Ostrava primacy that she pushed the value of her own national record to 482 centimetres. This performance is also a meeting record.
Šutej also has a number of successes at major international events. In 2022, she took bronze at the World Indoor Championships in Belgrade and at the European Athletics Championships in Munich. She is also a two-time silver medallist from the European Athletics Indoor Championships in Toruń 2021 and Istanbul 2023. She will appear at the Czech Indoor Gala for the fifth time. In addition to the already mentioned three victories, she was second in 2022. She also gained two victories at the last two years of the Ostrava Golden Spike.
The Czech number one Amálie Švábíková has not missed the Czech Indoor Gala even once since 2018. Last year, she finished in second place just behind Tina Šutej and thus started a successful indoor season, during which she broke the national record with a performance of 472 at the Czech National Championships in the same arena and subsequently won bronze at the European Indoor Championships in Istanbul, where she again finished just behind Šutej.
The Czech Indoor Gala will be one of the highlights of the upcoming indoor season for Štěpán Janáček’s athlete. „I’m really looking forward to the Czech Indoor Gala and I’m glad that it now falls into the Gold category. Like every year, I’m looking forward to competing with Tina Šutej and other competitors. I believe that after successful preparation, I will be able to perform well throughout the season, as was the case last year,“ says Švábíková.
However, another traditional opponent of the home star, the Swiss Angelica Moser, will also want to intervene in the battle for victory. The former European junior champion and two-time European U23 champion has already won a valuable metal at the adult continental championship, when she climbed to the top at the European Athletics Indoor Championships in Toruń 2021. This year, she pushed her absolute career maximum to 475 centimeters, which brought her fifth at this year’s World Athletics Championship in Budapest, just one position behind Šutej. Amálie Švábíková was also present in this final race and finished eleventh.
Swoboda focuses the meeting record
The women´s 60m belongs among the oldest meeting records in Ostrava. It has been standing since 2016 by the representative of Trinidad and Tobago Michelle-Lee Ahye, who then flew the straight in 7.10. At the upcoming Czech Indoor Gala, however, this record could be shaken. Polish sprinter Ewa Swoboda will surely have it in the sights. She can be proud of her personal best of 6.99.
She showed her shape last season as well when she pushed her career best in the 100 to 10.94 and, as the best European, won sixth place at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest. In 2019, she became the European Athletics indoor champion at this distance, and in addition to that, she also has two more silvers in her collection from the continental indoor championships in Belgrade 2017 and Istanbul 2023. She has already competed at the Czech Indoor Gala. In 2018, she won this meeting and knows the Ostrava arena very well as she goes there to train, which can also work in her favour towards attacking the meeting record.
The Czech Indoor Gala 2024 will take place on Tuesday 30 January 2024 in the Ostrava Athletic Arena. Tickets can be purchased via www.ticketportal.cz. Their price is 250 CZK /ca 10 EUR.