Barbora Spotakova waits for the javelin to land on her last attempt as she wins the Olympic javelin title (© Getty Images)
Prague, Czech RepublicBarbora Spotakova, the World record holder and reigning World and Olympic champion in the javelin Throw, will be the headline act at the 16th Josef Odlozil Memorial on Monday (8) at Juliska Stadium in the Czech capital.
The Josef Odlozil Memorial is part of a select group of Area meetings at which points can be acquired by athletes to qualify for the IAAF / VTB Bank World Athletics Final, to be held on 12-13 September in Thessaloniki, Greece.
It will be the third meet of the year for Spotakova, who in both her previous outings achieved excellent winning marks 65.96m and 66.31m. Organisers have offered her a US$ 20,000 World record bonus, and in her present shape she could certainly attack her own meet record of 68.81m set last year. Spotakova trains daily in Juliska stadium so will be feeling quite at home.
But the spectators will also be able to see another star of Czech athletics, the Decathlon World record holder Roman Sebrle who is scheduled to compete in the Long Jump and the Shot Put. In the jump, he is among the favourites.
Very good fields have been assembled for the Czech European indoor hurdles medallists from Turin. In the men’s 110m Hurdles, Petr Svoboda will face American Dexter Faulk who on Thursday improved to 13.29 at the Memorial Primo Nebiolo in Turin.
Lucie Skrobakova will run against British Olympic finalist Sarah Claxton and former US champion Danielle Carruthers in the 100m Hurdles. Zuzana Hejnova, an Olympic finalist in the 400m Hurdles, goes against against Russian Yekaterina Bikert, who was sixth in Beijing last summer, and Lashinda Demus of the US, the current world leader at 54.17.
Another top home athlete will be discus thrower Vera Cechlova competing with Romanian Nicoleta Grasu and Olympic medalist Olena Antonova of Ukraine.
Sprinter Laverne Jones of US Virgin Islands, who improved both of her national records in Hengelo on Monday to 11.13 and 22.46, could well dip under Stephanie Durst’s two-year-old meet record of 22.74 in the 200m.
In the women’s 800m World indoor medallist Tetyana Petlyuk of Ukraine is the favourite - she has already run under two minutes this season - and is going to face Briton Jenny Meadows and Olympic fourth placer Russian Svetlana Kluyka.
Among the features in the men’s races is a very interesting battle in the 400m Hurdles with European champion Periklis Iakovakis of Greeceand former Olympic medallist and Jamaican veteran Danny McFarlane. Kenyan Collins Kosgei, the meet record holder with 8:14.32 from 2007, is the favourite in the 3000m Steeplechase while Jamaican Steve Mullings is the man to beat in both the 100m and 200m.
The memorial 1500m race - Josef Odlozil was an Olympic medalist in 1964 at 1500m – has Ethiopian Bikila Demma (3:35.27), Frenchman Abdeslam Kennouche (3:32.46) Kenyan Cornelius Ndiwa of Kenya (3:37.35) as the favourites.
In the remaining men’s technical events, there will be as usual a tough field in the Hammer Throw with world leader Krisztian Pars of Hungary, former Olympic winner Szymon Ziolkowski of Poland, Slovak world medallist Libor Charfreitag and fresh national record breakers Dilshod Nazarov of Tajikistan and Igor Sokolovs of Latvia.
The men’s Pole Vault will see French world medallist from 2007 Romain Mesnil, who on Friday cleared a European leading 5.81m, against Germans Fabian Schulze and Tim Lobinger, along with the best Czech at the moment, Olympic finalist Jan Kudlicka.
The top names in the Shot Put are European champion Ralf Bartels and French European indoor medallist Yves Niare.
Alfons Juck for the IAAF
The Josef Odlozil Memorial is part of a select group of Area meetings at which points can be acquired by athletes to qualify for the IAAF / VTB Bank World Athletics Final, to be held on 12-13 September in Thessaloniki, Greece.
It will be the third meet of the year for Spotakova, who in both her previous outings achieved excellent winning marks 65.96m and 66.31m. Organisers have offered her a US$ 20,000 World record bonus, and in her present shape she could certainly attack her own meet record of 68.81m set last year. Spotakova trains daily in Juliska stadium so will be feeling quite at home.
But the spectators will also be able to see another star of Czech athletics, the Decathlon World record holder Roman Sebrle who is scheduled to compete in the Long Jump and the Shot Put. In the jump, he is among the favourites.
Very good fields have been assembled for the Czech European indoor hurdles medallists from Turin. In the men’s 110m Hurdles, Petr Svoboda will face American Dexter Faulk who on Thursday improved to 13.29 at the Memorial Primo Nebiolo in Turin.
Lucie Skrobakova will run against British Olympic finalist Sarah Claxton and former US champion Danielle Carruthers in the 100m Hurdles. Zuzana Hejnova, an Olympic finalist in the 400m Hurdles, goes against against Russian Yekaterina Bikert, who was sixth in Beijing last summer, and Lashinda Demus of the US, the current world leader at 54.17.
Another top home athlete will be discus thrower Vera Cechlova competing with Romanian Nicoleta Grasu and Olympic medalist Olena Antonova of Ukraine.
Sprinter Laverne Jones of US Virgin Islands, who improved both of her national records in Hengelo on Monday to 11.13 and 22.46, could well dip under Stephanie Durst’s two-year-old meet record of 22.74 in the 200m.
In the women’s 800m World indoor medallist Tetyana Petlyuk of Ukraine is the favourite - she has already run under two minutes this season - and is going to face Briton Jenny Meadows and Olympic fourth placer Russian Svetlana Kluyka.
Among the features in the men’s races is a very interesting battle in the 400m Hurdles with European champion Periklis Iakovakis of Greeceand former Olympic medallist and Jamaican veteran Danny McFarlane. Kenyan Collins Kosgei, the meet record holder with 8:14.32 from 2007, is the favourite in the 3000m Steeplechase while Jamaican Steve Mullings is the man to beat in both the 100m and 200m.
The memorial 1500m race - Josef Odlozil was an Olympic medalist in 1964 at 1500m – has Ethiopian Bikila Demma (3:35.27), Frenchman Abdeslam Kennouche (3:32.46) Kenyan Cornelius Ndiwa of Kenya (3:37.35) as the favourites.
In the remaining men’s technical events, there will be as usual a tough field in the Hammer Throw with world leader Krisztian Pars of Hungary, former Olympic winner Szymon Ziolkowski of Poland, Slovak world medallist Libor Charfreitag and fresh national record breakers Dilshod Nazarov of Tajikistan and Igor Sokolovs of Latvia.
The men’s Pole Vault will see French world medallist from 2007 Romain Mesnil, who on Friday cleared a European leading 5.81m, against Germans Fabian Schulze and Tim Lobinger, along with the best Czech at the moment, Olympic finalist Jan Kudlicka.
The top names in the Shot Put are European champion Ralf Bartels and French European indoor medallist Yves Niare.
Alfons Juck for the IAAF
