European Team Championships and European Games in Athletics, 23 June 2023, Chorzów. Filip Šnejdr from the Czech Republic won the silver medal in the 800 meters.
Chorzów (Poland) – Filip Šnejdr won a silver medal in the 800 meters at the European Games. At the European Athletics Team Championships, which this year is part of the multi-sport event in Poland, he finished second in Chorzów in the paper-less B run in 1:46.84 minutes. The subsequent run A was surprisingly slower and no one from the lower divisions had achieved a better time in the past days, including the two-time World Championship medalist Amel Tuka from Bosnia and Herzegovina.
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After the first day, in which twelve of the 37 disciplines took place, the Czech team ranks fourteenth in the team standings of the sixteen-member division A, which would mean relegation. So far, the Czechs have collected 77.50 points and lose ten and a half points to Norway and Belgium, which are in twelfth and thirteenth place. The biggest Czech hopes, such as shot putter Tomáš Staněk, pole vaulter Amálie Švábíková or distance runner Radek Juška, will only compete in the next few days. The team championship will last until Sunday. The Italians are in the lead so far, with four partial victories.
Šnejdr brought fifteen points to the Czech team. For the 28-year-old athlete, who was more than a second behind his personal best in Chorzów, the second place is the biggest individual international success. So far, his only valuable metal at a major event was a bronze in the 4x400m relay at the 2017 Universiade.
The Swiss Ramon Wipfli won, who beat Šnejdr by eleven hundredths in the end. On the other hand, the Czech representative kept the Turkish Mehmet Celik six thousandths behind him.
Everyone wanted to run fast from the start and it was Šnejdr who set the pace. “We kind of said that I'll take it and then we'll see what happens in the course. But it was very difficult, it's difficult to estimate the first Thursday so that I could do it comfortably,” he said. Immediately after the race, he did not completely think about the overall success. “My run was definitely beatable. On the other hand, the boys and I helped each other in the end,” he reflected.
The participants of the A run, including the former European vice-champion Andreas Kramer from Sweden, then, according to Šnejder, strategized the race. “I think they thought it wasn't that fast and that they could run under 1:46 from 53 seconds (in the split). Maybe they underestimated it,” reflected the most surprising Czech medalist at these European Games so far. There are no individual medal ceremonies in athletics at the European Games, Šnejdr will receive the valuable metal additionally.
Another significant shift in the personal record was recorded by Tereza Petržilková. After breaking under 52 seconds for the first time at the recent Kladno meeting, she improved by another 44 hundredths to 51.51. That marked fifth place in a race dominated by Dutch star Femke Bolová (49.85). “On paper, I was in eighth place. I'm fifth in such a race, that's a complete fantasy,” Petržilková rejoiced.
She ran on the inside edge in a better start, but in the second lane. “It's great here that there are nine lanes, so I didn't have a handrail, and you can run well in the second lane,” she added. Her next individual start will be the Zlatá Tretra on Tuesday.
European Team Championships and European Athletics Games in Chorzów:
Total (12 of 37 disciplines): 1. Italy 141, 2. Great Britain 131.5, 3. Poland 127, …14. Czech Republic 77.5.
Men – 100 m (wind +0.6 m/s): 1. Ceccarelli (It.) 10.13, …13. Veleba (Czech Republic) 10.48 (-0.5 m/s), 400 m: 1. Ingvaldsen (Nor.) 44.88, …9. Krsek (Czech Republic) 45.75, 800 m: 1. Wipfli (Switzerland) 1:46.73, 2. Šnejdr (Czech Republic) 1:46.83, 3000 m ex: 1. Arce (Sp.) 8:25 ,88, …9. Foller (Czech Republic) 8:38.82, pole: 1. Vloon (Netherlands) 585, …13. D. Bárta (Czech Republic) 530, triple jump: 1. Bocchi (It.) 16.84, …14. Kunt (CZ) 14,18.
Women – 100 m (+0.1 m/s): 1. Swobodová (Pol.) 11.09, …10. Maňasová (ČR) 11.44, 400 m: 1. Bolová (Netherlands) 49.82, …5. Petržilková (Czech Republic) 51.51, 5000 m: 1. Battoclettiová (It.) 15:25.09, …15. Hrochová (Czech Republic) 16:34.52, ball: 1. Dongmová (Portugal) 19.07, …9. Brzyszkowska (Czech Republic) 16.13, hammer: 1. Fantiniová (It.) 73.26, …15. Korečková (Czech Republic) 58.37, discus: 1. Pudenzová (Germany) 66.84, …12. Tichá (Czech Republic) 50.68.
Svabíková made up for the lack of training after an ankle injury before the EC team championships
Pole vaulter Amálie Švábíková was making up for the lack of training before the European Athletics Team Championships after injuring her ankle, which she suffered on the stairs at home. The bronze medalist from the indoor EC had to rest for ten days and lost the Odložil memorial, which she only stopped regretting when she looked at the persistent rain on Juliska.
After a successful indoor season, Švábíková also did well at the beginning of the outdoor season, when at the end In May, she surpassed her maximum in the open air at the extralize with a performance of 461 centimeters. “I was surprised that I managed to break my outdoor personal record in the second race,” she told journalists today.
Then an unexpected ankle injury slowed her down. “I was in a hurry for training. We have slippery, wooden stairs at home. I slipped, I bruised him. Nothing terrible,” she said. She did not need fixation or crutches. “It was treated with calmness. Of course it's unpleasant. We were preparing for the Memorial of Josef Odložil, which I had to postpone because of it,” she lamented.
In the first moment, she took it hard that she lost the biggest race in Prague, but then she got over it. “At the beginning, I cried a lot. I was sorry, I had my whole family there, my younger sisters were racing, we could race together. When I saw what the weather was like, I felt sorry for the girls. It hurt even less that I couldn't be there compete,” said the twenty-three-year-old athlete.
After the injury, she attended the meeting of the gold category of the Continental Tour in Turku, where she finished sixth with a performance of 446 centimeters. “I expected to perform better, but the timeout was noticeable. It certainly could have been better if I didn't have a ten-day timeout,” she noted. “After Turku, I was supposed to go to one more meeting in France, but we canceled it in order to make up for the loss of ten days when I couldn't train, and to train before the European Team Championship and the Golden Shoe,” she added.
He feels good now. “We added two technical trainings. We added speed, more special strength, I believe I'm ready,” she said before Saturday's competition. This will be specific, because at the European team championship athletes can have only four failed attempts in vertical jumps, the competition ends for them with the fourth cross. “It completely occurred to me that this is the rule. I found it out only yesterday at the meeting, when they emphasized to us that we only have four crosses. But I go into every race with the understanding that it is necessary to jump on the first attempts, because it can decide overall result. I will think about winning as many points as possible for the team so that I don't drop out because of four crosses,” commented Švábíková.
Individual medals are also awarded at the European Games. However, the order across the divisions is taken into account, while the Slovenian Tina Šutejová won the second division with a performance of 470 centimeters. “That's another rule we learned yesterday at the meeting. I didn't know at all that it would count from all divisions. We were quite surprised by it, but it has to be taken into account. 470 is a great performance, we'll see what we will perform with the girls,” added Švábíková.
She likes the team competition. “It's a bit of a commitment, because it binds you to the fact that you have to win some points. But it's a commitment like any other, I'll try to concentrate as always. Of course there's a bit of pressure, but that's also the case in big individual competitions,” added the former successful junior.
