< /p> European Indoor Athletics Championships in Istanbul, medalists of the shot put event. From the left, silver medalist Tomáš Staněk from the Czech Republic, gold medalist Zane Weir from Italy and bronze medalist Roman Kokoško from Ukraine. 3 Mar 2023.
Istanbul – Shot putter Tomáš Staněk did not defend the title of European indoor champion, but the performance of his life at the top event gave him confidence for the next months. In an interview for the iDNES.cz server, he declared that he wanted to attack his Czech records. At thirty-one, he still feels the potential for improvement.
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In the hall, he has a maximum of 22.17 meters, his best performance outdoors is 16 centimeters shorter. In Istanbul today he beat himself to 21.90 and was a little sorry that the Czech record didn't fall.
He believes he will have an opportunity in the summer. “During the summer, I hit almost every ball we throw in training. Unfortunately, two races in one day, like we had at the European Championships in Munich, took their toll. As I had a sprained ankle, I wasn't able to throw as much. As I get older, I mature like wine. So I believe that there will still be something for it,” he said.
In today's silver attempt, he knew from the start that it would be far. “Usually you can tell right from the throw, when you feel the tension on your fingers. However, on this particular attempt, I felt as soon as I turned that it was going to be far. It was so graceful. I still had to hit the ball in the hole, but luckily I didn't have that from the others problem,” described the bronze medalist from last year's European Championships in Munich.
First, the value of 21.92 centimeters appeared in his performance, but then the referees deducted two centimeters from him and he continuously led Weir by a centimeter. “There was some error in the measurement. Maybe they wanted to make it more attractive… But no, I'm just kidding. I was afraid if someone protested that I stepped on it. But I didn't feel anything, so I believed that it would be fine ,” said Staněk.
Before the summer season, the highlight of which will be the World Championship in Budapest in August, he wants to build on the successful hall. “Now I mainly want to rest. There were some aches and pains and I wouldn't like to carry them over to the summer season. And then to continue this rhythm. I think the preparation wasn't completely bad, except for some February flu. So there's probably no need to change anything, ” he planned.
On the world stage, he will face even tougher competition than in Europe, led by world record holder Ryan Crouser from the USA, who pushed his own indoor all-time record to 23.38 meters in February.
