Audrey Verreau returns to action after victory over Keeley Hodgkinson in Stockholm, while Noah Lyles targets a world best in the 150m and teenage sprint sensation Gout Gout returns to the scene with his breakthrough performance.
The Ostrava Golden Spike meet returns on Tuesday (June 16) with a host of global stars led by Audrey Vero, Noah Lyles and Gout Gout in the eighth World Athletics Continental Tour Gold meet of the season.
After her stunning 1:53.98 victory in Stockholm, which moved her to third on the women’s 800m all-time list, Verro will be looking to continue her remarkable form in the Czech Republic. The Swiss defeated Olympic champion Keeley Hodgkinson in the Swedish capital and now faces another gold medalist in the Femke Bowl.
The Dutch star, a two-time world champion in the 400m hurdles, will make his 800m outdoor debut after clocking 1:59.07 earlier this year. Ball ran third over 400m in Ostrava last season before successfully defending his world crown.
Vero appeared as one of the stars of the season. Along with his success in Stockholm, the Diamond League champion also won in Rabat to take the world silver medal behind Hodgkinson.
Another major attraction will be the men’s 150m, where Olympic 100m champion Noah Lyles will take on Australian teenage gout.
Lyles is chasing the world best of 14.92 set by Kishane Thomson in April and arrives in Ostrava this year off the back of 9.88 for the 100m and 19.91 for the 200m.
Meanwhile, Gout continues to raise his profile after setting an under-20 world record of 19.67 for the 200m in Sydney. The 18-year-old returns to the track where he set a then-best time of 20.02 last year. South Africa’s Sinesifo Dambile, runner-up in the Diamond League 200m in Stockholm and Oslo, is also in the field.
Home hopes rest on Manuel
The home fans will be hoping for a strong showing from Lourdes Gloria Manuel in the women’s 400m. The Czech athlete is in form after finishing second in Oslo and Rome, where she broke 50 seconds for the first time in 49.77.
She will face Cuba’s Roxana Gomez, Ireland’s Charlene Maudsley and Slovakia’s Emma Zapletalova, who has enjoyed an impressive streak of victories over the hurdles this season.
Karolina Manasova will also be in the spotlight after recently lowering the Czech 100m record to 11.01. She is up against world indoor 60m silver medalist Eva Svoboda, former world under-20 champion Briana Liston and New Zealand record holder Zoe Hobbs.
In the men’s 100m, world 60m indoor champion Jordan Anthony will face Ronnie Baker and Emmanuel Esseme, who recently improved Cameroon’s record to 9.94.
A strong lineup of field events
The men’s pole vault features Emmanuel Karalis, who returns after finishing second to Mondo Duplantis in Ostrava last year. Since then, the Greek has raised his national record to 6.17m and is second on the all-time list.
Katie Moon leads the women’s pole vault, with Tomasz Stanek leading local hopes in the shot put against Tom Walsh and Leonardo Fabbri.
The men’s javelin promises to be one of the highlights of the field events. Sri Lanka’s Rumesh Tharanga arrives on the back of his national record of 92.62m in Rome, which moved him to 8th in the world all-time rankings. Two-time world champion Anderson Peters will look for revenge after losing to him in Italy.
Elsewhere, world 1500m champion Isaac Nader headlines a quality men’s 1000m field that includes Hobbs Kessler, Mohamed Atawi, Peter Ball and Mark English.
