News25 Feb 2008


Bába, Straková, Hejnová excel at Czech Indoor Champs

FacebookTwitterEmail

Jaroslav Bába high jumping in Erfurt (© Hasse Sjögren)

The homely Otakar Jandera’s Arena hosted this weekend Czech Indoor Championships (23 / 24). Saturday’s and Sunday’s medal battles offered the last chance to qualify for national team to the 12th IAAF World Indoor Championships, Valencia, Spain (7-9 March).

There was the much awaited duel between Iva Straková and Romana Dubnova, excellent high-jumpers, who both cleared 1.95m this season. National champs are decisive for qualification to World Indoor Championships. Straková succeeded at 1.94 compared to Dubnova who finished at 1.91. Straková should join Barbora Laláková in Valencia, she is the third Czech high jumping star, whose season’s best is 1.97, who rested her minor injury instead of competing this weekend.

Zuzana Hejnová, the 400mHurdles Czech record holder, will very likely join the national 4x400m Relay. Today she fulfilled individual qualification standard by clocking 52.82, for the 400m. She wants to run even faster in Valencia, but doesn’t know, whether it will be sufficient for advancing to semi-finals.

Last but not least, another athlete who secured a start in Valencia was Jaroslav Bába. The Olympic High Jump bronze medallist set his season’s best of 2.30m, coming back serious ankle injury. Bába’s hopes are to make the cut for the final in Spain.

Stanislav Sajdok, who fulfilled the Valencia standard last weekend in Leipzig running the 60m Hurdles 7.69, went 0.04 better on Saturday which brought him national title. Then on Sunday he broke is PB in the High Jump by succeeding at 2.24m, he took third place behind Jaroslav Bába and Tomáš Janku.

Very close to qualifying to the World Indoor Championships was Tomáš Bednár. He run 1500m in 3:42.34, only 0.34 behind time needed. Katerina Cechová, bronze junior medalist at 100m last year, also made a great run by winning 60 m dash in 7.41, four hundreds of the qualifying standard. By the same margin missed qualification 60 m hurdler Lucie Martincová, who achieved 8.14.

Michal Procházka for the IAAF


Czech national team to Valencia

Men
Jaroslav Bába – High Jump
Jakub Holuša – 800 or 1500m
Stanislav Sajdok – 60m H
Petr Svoboda – 60m H
Roman Šebrle – Heptathlon

Women
Jitka Bartonicková – 4x400 m
Zuzana Bergrová – 4x400 m
Drahomíra Eidrnová – 4x400 m
Zuzana Hejnová – 400m, 4x400 m
Barbora Laláková – High Jump
Pavla Rybová – Pole Vault
Iva Straková – High Jump
Denisa Šcerbová – 60m H, Long Jump, 4x400m

 

Loading...