Illustration photo – Czech sprinter Jan Veleba.
Prague – The original fourteen-member nomination for the European Indoor Athletics Championships was completed by sprinter Jan Veleba and miler Jan Friš. They will travel to Turkey based on their position in the reduced world rankings combined with the home association's limit being met. The Czech Athletic Association (ČAS) informed about it. The championship will take place in Istanbul from March 2 to 5.
Advertisement'; }
“Both of them have jumped higher in the ranking to positions that mean the possibility of participating in the European Indoor Championships, and at the same time both of them have met a sharp demand from the association,” ČAS director Karolína Poláková told ČTK. At the time of the original nomination, Veleb and Friš did not have positions in the rankings that would allow them to start in Istanbul. Both are now waiting for their fifth start at the HME, and in this direction, together with the miler Filip Sasínek and shot putter Tomáš Staňek, they will be the most experienced representatives in Turkey.
The 36-year-old Veleba will join the reigning Czech champion Zdenek Stromšík in the starting field for the 60-meter run. The maximum of the six-time Czech champion in the 60s, who missed the MČR in Ostrava at the weekend due to a minor injury, is participation in the semi-finals at the HME.
Twenty-eight-year-old Friš will double the Czech representation in the 15s alongside the national record holder Sasínek, behind whom on Sunday finished second at the Ostrava championship. The year before in Toruń, Friš ran in the final and finished eleventh, two places behind Sasínek.
