Roman Sebrle in the Decathlon's Pole Vault (© Getty Images)
Czech pole vaulter Katerina Badurová leaped 4.65m for a new Czech national record at the Prague Indoor Pole Vault Meeting on Wednesday evening (14), surpassing the 4.64 which her training partner, Pavla Hamackova-Rybova, had jumped two hours earlier at a competition in Bydgoszcz, Poland.
Click here for the report from Bydgoszcz
It was a friendly, long-distance “cat-and-mouse” game which was a product of the Information Age.
Shortly after 7 pm, Badurová’s manager received a mobile phone message from Czech high jumper Tomás Janku, who was also competing in Bydgoszcz, to tell of Rybová’s new record. Of course, as Badurova’s domestic partner, Janku was seizing upon the opportunity to direct strategy for his girl friend.
At a bar of a height of 4.50m, Badurová’s win over American Jillian Schwartz was secure, as the American missed three times and finished second with 4.35. Moving onward, the Czech needed two attempts at 4.60, but at 4.65, she flew over on her first jump.
The 24-year-old Ostrava native entered the season with a modest 4.35 indoor best, but she has been at or above that level in all her competitions this year, with last week’s 4.56 in Valencia perhaps providing the confidence she needed for last night’s record jump.
“I really didn’t have an idea about doing this tonight until I got to the hall and heard about Pavla’s record in Poland,” she said later. The fast-moving competition probably also helped, as there were only two other jumpers still alive by the time she started at 4.20.
Badurová and Rybová both train together at Dukla Praha under Boleslav Patara. Of their relationship, Badurová remarked that “we’re both friends and rivals.”
The national record could well see some movement in the coming weeks. Rybová is scheduled for Birmingham on Saturday (17), with Badurová going to Stockholm (20) next week. Their next head-to-head clash will be at the Czech Championships on 24 February.
The competition, originally scheduled in the inflatable building on Strahov hill, had to be quickly relocated to the Stromovka hall when the Strahov facility blew down in January during a wind storm.
MEN – Hartwig the victor; Sebrle fit again
The men’s competition was won by Jeff Hartwig at 5.60. Amazingly, the well-traveled American had never been in the Czech Republic until this week, but he had maintained a long-standing acquaintance with several of the top Czech vaulters.
“It worked out perfectly in my schedule,” he said, “and it gave me a chance to see a city I have long wanted to visit.”
Czech vaulter Adam Ptácek also leaped 5.60, but lost out on the countback, while Stepán Janácek’s 5.45 took third.
Also competing as part of his European Indoor Championships multi-event warm-up was Roman Sebrle. The decathlon world-record holder leaped 4.70 and pronounced his right shoulder totally fit.
The only visible mark from the near-tragic accident in South Africa last month, in which he was impaled by a thrown javelin, was a small mound of scar tissue, about a centimeter in diameter. There was only a small speck of red to mark the exit point on the backside of his upper arm.
“I was lucky,” he said about the accident, probably for the hundredth time. “And infection was kept to a minimum because the shirt I was wearing also entered with the javelin.”
Sebrle plans to vault and do several events at the Czech Championships.
Ed Gordon for the IAAF
Men: 1. Hartwig,USA 5.60, 2. Ptacek 5.60, 3. Janacek 5.45, 4. Telecky 5.30, 5. Lewis,GBR 5.30, 6. Kudlicka (88) 5.30,...10. Sebrle 4.70
Women: 1. Badurova 4.65 NR (4.20/1, 4.35/1, 4.50/2, 4.60/2, 4.65/1, 4.70/xxx), 2. Schwartz,USA 4.35, 3. Ptacnikova 4.00
