Roman Sebrle (CZE) wins the Heptathlon World title in Budapest (© Getty Images)
The Czech Republic will have seven athletes at the 11th IAAF World Indoor Championships, Moscow, Russia, 10 – 12 March 2006, with Roman Sebrle's defence of his Heptathlon title looking like their best title chance.
Olympic Decathlon champion Sebrle competed in the two day national indoor championships (25/26 Feb), his three events on Saturday (25) showing his present solid form, although he expected more.
“I felt some small pain in my leg, but fortunately it is ok,” confirmed Sebrle. “It was during the 60m heats so I eased up a little bit, otherwise my time would be very close to 7 seconds. After that I did two Hurdles races and the Pole Vault, so all in all a good training session. I still have one meeting in Chemnitz on Friday where I will test my shape again in the Hurdles and in the Long Jump.”
Elsewhere at the indoor nationals, the European U23 Championships bronze medallist Stanislav Sajdok bettered his personal best at 60m Hurdles with a 7.70 second run which was exactly the standard for Moscow set by the Czech federation.
The other five athletes in the team are from jumping events. Four high jumpers – in the men’s event, Svatoslav Ton and Tomas Janku were already confirmed, as Jaroslav Baba is injured and presently on crutches, and in the women’s event, the line-up is Barbora Lalakova and Iva Strakova Dubnova.
The last Moscow team member is pole vaulter Pavla Hamackova, Helsinki bronze medallist and a very experienced jumper, she was World Indoor champion back in 2001.
Trying hard for the Moscow standard were two male pole vaulters but despite having four attempts at the height of 5.65m (3 normal and one in jump-off) Stepan Janacek and Adam Ptacek did not succeed.
A special case was the 800m runner Jaroslav Ruza. He was allowed to compete on Saturday at the Athens Indoor Meeting and finished in a very solid third behind the likes of Wilfred Bungei and Ivan Heshko. But unfortunately the pace was not fast enough to attack the Czech qualification standard for Moscow of 1:47.8. So he remains the only one Czech athlete with the IAAF standard during the current indoor season not to be selected for the team (twice under 1:48.5).
Former Triple Jump World champion Sarka Kasparkova won her 13th indoor title but is remains retired from international competitions, while European Junior Long Jump champion Denisa Scerbova won with 6.44 in her first senior year, and also got the bronze over the Hurdles. Some weeks ago also broke Czech senior Pentathlon record.
Alfons Juck for the IAAF
National Championships, Feb 25-26
Stromovka (hall)
1st day
Men
60 m: 1. Jaroslav Smotek (86) 6.80, 2. Ondrej Kozlovsky 6.84, h1: 6. Roman Sebrle 7.13
60mH: 1. Stanislav Sajdok 7.70 PB and standard for Moscow, 2. Petr Svoboda 7.88, 3. Pavel Durica 7.99, 4. Roman Sebrle 8.05,...7. Tomas Dvorak 8.22, h1: 1. Roman Sebrle 8.13, h2: 1. Stanislav Sajdok 7.83, 2. Tomas Dvorak 8.15, h3: 1. Petr Svoboda 7.90
3000 m: 1. Vaclav Janousek 8:19.63
TJ: 1. Jakub Hurka 15.39
PV: 1. Stepan Janacek 5.50 (5.26/1, 5.46/1, 5.65/xxx, jump-off: 5.65/x, 5.60/x, 5.55/x, 5.50/o), 2. Adam Ptacek 546 (5.26/1, 5.46/1, 5.65/xxx, jump-off: 5.65/x, 5.60/x, 5.55/x, 5.50/x), 3. Michal Balner 5.36, 4. Jan Kudlicka (88) 5.16,...8. Roman Sebrle 4.81, 13. Tomas Dvorak 4.41
Women
60m: 1. Iveta Mazacova (86) 7.47 PR, 2. Kristina Bazatova 7.51, 3. Stepanka Klapacova 7.52
60mH: 1. Petra Seidlova 8.21 PR, 2. Lucie Martincova 8.23 (1h1 8.28), 3. Denisa Scerbova 8.50 (2h2 8.48)
3000m: 1. Lenka Ptackova 9:29.28
TJ: 1. Sarka Kasparkova 13.60, 2. Martina Darmovzalova 13.46
PV: 1. Pavla Hamackova 4.35, 2. Katerina Badurova 4.13, 3. Jirina Ptacnikova 4.13, 4. Romana Malacova (87) 3.76
2nd day
Men
200m: 1. Jiri Vojtik 21.13, 2. Rudolf Gotz 21.39, 3. Vojtech Sulc 21.47
400m: 1. Filip Klvana 47.86, 2. Michal Uhlik 48.29
800m: 1. Richard Svoboda 1:51.60, 2. Martin Hrstka (89) 1:51.75
1500m: 1. Vladimir Bartunek 3:52.14
HJ: 1. Svatoslav Ton 2.21, 2. Tomas Janku 2.18, 3. Jiri Krehula 2.18, 4. Ondrej Balcar 2.10
LJ: 1. Tomas Pour 7.82, 2. Stepan Wagner 7.58
SP: 1. Antonin Zalsky 19.63, 2. Remigius Machura jr. 19.06, 3. Vladislav Tulacek (88) 16.93 PR with men´s implement,...6. Tomas Dvorak 14.99
4x400 m: 1. Slavia Praha 3:14.85
Women
200m: 1. Stepanka Klapacova 24.15 (1h3 24.02), 2. Kristina Bazatova 24.37, 3. Jitka Bartonickova 24.66, h2: 2. Katerina Cechova (88) 24.26, h4: 3. Barbora Spotakova (javelin specialist) 25.50
400m: 1. Jitka Bartonickova 53.6 hand, 2. Zuzana Hejnova 53.6, 3. Zuzana Bergrova 54.9
800m: 1. Petra Lochmanova 2:05.43
1500m: 1. Marcela Lustigova 4:38.40, 2. Petra Ivanova 4:38.92, 3. Tereza Capkova (87) 4:39.10
HJ: 1. Barbora Lalakova 1.92, 2. Romana Dubnova 1.89, 3. Iva Strakova 1.89, 4. Oldriska Maresova 1.78
LJ: 1. Denisa Scerbova 6.44, 2. Jana Koresova 6.18, 3. Martina Darmovzalova 6.16, 4. Veronika Sramkova 6.10
SP: 1. Jana Karnikova 15.78
4x400 m: 1. USK Praha 3:44.74
Team for Moscow:
Men
60mH: Sajdok
HJ: Ton, T. Janku
Hep: Sebrle
Wom
HJ: Lalakova, Strakova
PV: Hamackova
