Roman Sebrle about to launch the Javelin in the Decathlon (© Getty Images)
The second edition of TNT-Fortuna Combined Events meeting in Kladno near Prague on Wednesday and Thursday (18 / 19) will see the return of both winners from last year - Roman Sebrle and Lyudmila Blonska.
Czech World Decathlon record holder, the reigning Olympic and World champion Roman Sebrle who has been injured will complete in his first decathlon of the year. Last year Sebrle won here with 8697 points, this time his goal is not that high.
"My preparation is orientated towards Beijing, but first I need to have the qualifying mark, so that is the most important thing at the moment," said Sebrle.
The expected capacity crowd will see his battle with World silver medallist Maurice Smith of Jamaica who was fifth in Götzis with 8332 points three weeks ago.
Organizers were hoping that two other star names Andrey Kravchenko of Belarus and Dmitriy Karpov from Kazakhstan would compete but Kravchenko is not ready yet after illness and Karpov who is in Czech Republic injured his hamstring recently during training with Sebrle. However, Karpov’s Olympic participation should not be in danger.
One of the co-organisers of the Kladno, the former triple World champion Tomas Dvorak will compete in what is billed as his last decathlon.
Also in the field decathletes with 8000+ points PBs like French Rudy Bourguignon (8025), Asian Games winner Vitaliy Smirnov of Uzbekistan (8021), Austrian Roland Schwarzl (8102) and experienced Dutch Chiel Warners (8363).
Interesting to watch will be the debut of Czech hurdler Stanislav Sajdok who just week ago in Ostrava improved to an Olympic qualifier of 13.53 secs for that event. His coach Dvorak expects that he can come close to 8000 points.
Ukraine’s World silver medallist Lyudmila Blonska comes to defend her title
(6354pts a year ago) after producing 6570 points for second place in Götzis. Poland´s Karolina Tyminska with a 6402 best should be her main rival. Home star Denisa Scerbova hopes to come close to the Czech record of 6268 which was set by Zuzana Lajbnerova in 1988.
It will be interesting to see Jamaican Toni-Ann D´Oyley a former 100m hurdler (12.92 best) who is trying the Heptathlon.
There will also be junior combined event competitions and a special men’s Javelin throw competition headed by South Africa’s 2006 World Junior champion Robert Oosthuizen.
Alfons Juck for the IAAF
