Freweyni Hailu stormed to sixth on the women’s mile short track all-time list while Lieke Klaver and Ewa Swoboda were among the meeting record-breakers at the Czech Indoor Gala – this season’s second World Athletics Indoor Tour Gold event – in Ostrava on Tuesday (30).

Following the World Indoor Tour Gold season opener in Astana on Saturday, Ostrava hosted its first meeting as part of the tour’s top tier and a series of strong performances ensured that it lived up to that billing.

Ethiopia’s world indoor 800m silver medallist Hailu made a statement in her first ever short track mile, running the sixth-fastest time in history with a dominant 4:17.36 performance.

The 22-year-old also claimed silver in the mile at the World Athletics Road Running Championships Riga 23 in October and proved that another medal is within reach at the World Athletics Indoor Championships Glasgow 24, where she will target the 1500m.

The race in Ostrava didn't get off to the smoothest of starts as Portugal's Salome Afonso suffered an early fall. Despite having to leap over Afonso, Hailu managed to stay on her feet and she moved towards the front of the field. With 90 seconds on the clock, Hailu formed part of a four-strong breakaway group behind the two pacemakers and she waited until there were four laps remaining to make a move. She eased to the fore as the remaining pacemaker stepped aside and only her compatriot Hirut Meshesha, the world indoor 1500m bronze medallist, could stick with her.

As they left their compatriots Saron Berhe and Netsanet Desta behind, Hailu and Meshesha reached 1500m in respective times of 4:01.03 and 4:01.68 - the top two marks in the world so far this year. Hailu continued to push ahead and sprinted away from Meshesha off the final bend to cross the finish line in 4:17.36, two seconds ahead of Meshesha who clocked 4:19.53 to move to 10th on the all-time list. Berhe was third in 4:24.23 and Desta fourth in 4:24.80.

A series of national short track records followed, Agathe Guillemot of France running 4:29.02, Belgium’s Elise Vanderelst running 4:29.31 and Denmark’s 18-year-old Sofia Thogersen matching that time in joint sixth place to also improve the European U20 record by almost 10 seconds.

“I’m very happy with my performance today,” said Hailu. “I won a medal at the last World Indoor Championships. This time I plan to run the 1500m and I am ready for it.”

While a very strong meeting record was set by default as the women’s mile was held at the Czech Indoor Gala for the first time, multiple other records fell – in the women’s 400m, 60m and 60m hurdles, plus the men’s 1500m.

In the 1500m, Portugal’s Isaac Nader improved his short track PB by more than two seconds to win in a world-leading national record of 3:34.23.

Two weeks after running 29:07 to win at the Portuguese 10km Road Running Championships, Nader continued his track campaign to claim the final victory of the day ahead of Samuel Pihlstrom with a Swedish record of 3:35.47 and Romain Mornet of France with 3:37.22. An Austrian record of 3:37.36 was also set by Raphael Pallitsch in fourth.

Klaver and Swoboda with strong sprints

After achieving a 400m meeting record of 51.00 on her season opener in Ostrava last year, world 4x400m gold medallist Klaver intended to go even faster this time around. She did so, and then some, clocking a world lead of 50.54 for the second-fastest time of her career behind the 50.34 she set when finishing behind her Dutch compatriot Femke Bol in her 49.26 world record run in Apeldoorn last year.

Norway’s Henriette Jaeger was second in the A race in a national record of 51.57, while Czechia’s Lada Vondrova was third in 52.05. Vit Muller went quickest in the men’s two 400m races, winning the B race on home soil in 46.26.

“I felt great,” said Klaver. “Of course, it’s the first race of the season, so you have no idea. It was funny because I called my brother this morning and I said I could run 50.70 and he was like, ‘woah, that would be crazy’. But I did 50.54, I’m happy with that. It’s a good start, but I want more.”

After a season of four more races, she will then target a medal in Glasgow. “I would like to have a medal, yes, but I have no idea what the rest of the world will do,” she added. “I am just going to go faster and faster and we’ll see what I end up with.”

Another athlete warming up nicely for the global competition in Glasgow is Poland’s Swoboda, who won the 60m in 7.07, three days after setting a world lead of 7.04 in Lodz.

The 2019 European indoor champion kept her composure when local favourite Karolina Manasova, the joint Czech record-holder, stumbled out of the blocks, and she powered away to win by a tenth of a second ahead of Patrizia van der Weken of Luxembourg. Belgium’s Rani Rosius was third in 7.23.

Swoboda’s compatriot Pia Skrzyszowska also maintained a win streak in Ostrava, going quickest in the 60m hurdles heats with 7.88 and then returning to win the final in 7.82 to improve the meeting record of 7.86 held by Nadine Visser of the Netherlands. Visser was second on this occasion, clocking 7.93 to narrowly claim the runner-up spot ahead of Ireland’s Sarah Lavin, who ran the same time.

A national record-breaking performance by Japan’s Yoshihide Kiryu gained him victory in the men’s 60m as he ran 6.53 to hold off Germany’s Joshua Hartmann (6.57) and Sweden’s Henrik Larsson (6.59).

That was a second PB of the day for Kiryu, who finished second in his heat with 6.55 behind Hartmann's 6.54.

Czechia’s Eduard Kubelik was fastest overall in the men’s 200m, winning the second of the two races in 20.66 ahead of Poland’s Albert Komanski (20.93) and Israel’s world U20 champion Blessing Afrifah in a national record of 20.94.

It might have been his first ever short track race, but Botswana’s world sixth-place finisher Tshepiso Masalela controlled the men’s 800m and marked his debut with victory. The 24-year-old followed the pacemaker and looked comfortable as he took over at the front, cruising over the finish line in 1:46.41. He was followed by Italy’s Catalin Tecuceanu (1:46.90) and Poland’s Mateusz Borkowski (1:47.33). Czechia’s European U20 champion Jakub Dudycha achieved a national U20 record in front of home fans, running 1:47.42.

Sutej, Steen and Tentoglou triumph

The women’s pole vault got the main programme under way and it ended with Slovenia’s Tina Sutej clearing 4.73m on her season debut for her fourth Czech Indoor Gala victory.

After opening at 4.33m, the world indoor bronze medallist needed all three attempts to remain in the competition at 4.53m but from there she soared clear on her first try at every height up to her winning mark. With the competition won, she then had three attempts at 4.83m.

Czechia’s Amalie Svabikova was second on 4.63m and Italy’s Roberta Bruni third on 4.53m.

USA’s 2022 NACAC champion Roger Steen, who finished second in Astana, gained victory in the men's shot put this time with a dramatic last round effort. Throwing 21.38m with his final attempt, he surpassed the leading mark set by home favourite Tomas Stanek in the third round by 5cm, while New Zealand’s two-time world indoor champion Tom Walsh placed third with 21.17m on his season debut.

Miltiadis Tentoglou had gone into the men's long jump competition targeting the meeting record of 8.21m and although the Greek Olympic, world and world indoor champion couldn’t manage it this time, he still secured victory on his season debut with a leap of 8.09m.

That mark came in the third round and while Czech record-holder Radek Juska improved to 8.03m in the fourth, it wasn’t enough to knock Tentoglou from the top spot.

“I felt good today, but the first competition of the year is always difficult for me,” said the winner. “I was making technical mistakes, but that’s normal in my case. I like to jump indoors, I feel it’s my territory.”

Jess Whittington for World Athletics

A briefing before the start of the Czech Indoor Gala 2024 took place in the Ostrava athletics hall on Monday (29). Four athletic stars of the meeting, the president of the Czech Athletics Association and representatives of the city and region were present as the guests.

The Czech Indoor Gala has already established a solid position in the international athletics calendar and its quality is constantly increasing which is also confirmed by the fact that it received the highest category of the World Athletics Indoor Tour Gold series this year. It is thus among the seven most elite indoor meetings in the world. Up to 130 athletes from 35 countries will compete in the 12 events of the main program. The Ostrava audience can look forward to five Olympic medallists, 15 World Championship medallists and 25 European Championship medallists. "It's hard to express how proud we are for the reason that the meeting we've been building since 2016 has become one of the best in the world. The signal will go to more than 120 countries. I am happy that we can welcome a number of outstanding athletes and I believe that there will be a great show with a lot of interesting stories, because that is what this meeting will be about. I would like to thank the National Sports Agency, the Statutory City of Ostrava and the Moravian-Silesian Region for their support, without which we would not be able to organise this meeting," said the president of the Czech Athletics Association Libor Varhaník.

Ostrava is a city of sports and athletics has always enjoyed a privileged position here, which is also confirmed by the mayor of the Statutory City of Ostrava, Jan Dohnal. "Ostrava has been supporting sports for a long time. We have top facilities here. We want to show the world that we are no longer an old industrial city but that we are a modern city worth coming to see. I am very glad that the Czech Athletic Association managed to get this meeting to the top. Tomorrow, we will be the capital of athletics, which is great advertising for us," he said. The mutual cooperation and support between the organizers is very beneficial for both parties, as evidenced by the words of the Deputy Governor of the Moravian-Silesian Region, Stanislav Folwarczný. "When deciding on the support of the biggest sporting events, we also perceive their economic potential and contribution. We like to support sports and athletics, of course, as it has a great tradition in our region," he said. Karolína Maňasová was the only lady among the guests. The recent Czech record co-holder at the 60m would like to become independent at the head of this statistic. Her elite rivals, led by the leader of this year's world rankings, Poland's Ewa Swoboda should help her to achieve it. "I will start against very strong opponents, which I take as a plus because I like to compete under pressure. I don't like to share so I believe that I will manage to improve the Czech record even more. I feel at home in this arena and I am pleased that such a top meeting is taking place in Ostrava. Parents and friends will come to watch so I hope to give the best possible performance," he believes in a successful performance in front of the home audience.

The Czech shot put record holder Tomáš Staněk will also want to make the most of the support of the Ostrava crowd. "I always look forward to Ostrava. Every time, it's a high-quality competition whether it's the Czech Indoor Gala or the Ostrava Golden Spike. I always want to fight with the best and I believe that I can push the season maximum as far as possible beyond 21 meters and we will see what it takes. The starting field is very good and I hope we will put on a great show," said the European indoor vice-champion.

However, the main favourite will be New Zealander Tom Walsh. The man with the impressive continental record of 22.90 will make his racing debut this year in Ostrava. "I am looking forward to the fight with strong opponents led by Tomáš (Staněk). It is clear to me that the home crowd will support him a lot but I believe that I will win. I feel in good shape so I'm hoping for a performance somewhere between 21.50 and 22 meters," the former world champion indoors and outdoors revealed his ambitions.

In the long jump, we can look forward to the Greek champion Miltiados Tentoglou. The man, who has already achieved every conceivable title including the Olympic gold, knows it well in Ostrava. He will be competing at the Czech Indoor Gala for the fourth time. "It will be my seventh race in Ostrava overall. I like it here. The arena is small but beautiful. I always enjoy a great atmosphere here. Even though I'm not exactly a showman, I feel the support of the crowd and it helps me a lot. Ostrava is one of the best athletic cities in the world," he paid tribute to the North Moravian capital.

The Czech Indoor Gala national program will start on Tuesday 30 January at 13:30 CET and it will be possible to watch it via a stream on the Czech Athletics Facebook page. The main program will then be broadcast live by ČT Sport from 16:50 CET.