Golden generation? Czech junior athletes among Europe’s best, breaking records

The most promising generation yet. Such is the conclusion of the Czech Athletics Federation following the European Athletics U20 Championships in Tampere, where Czech athletes won a record-breaking number of medals. Following a dry spell, this unprecedented junior success signals a brighter future for Czech athletics.

The Junior European Athletics Championship in Tampere, Finland, finished on Sunday, and the post-tournament conclusions have been very favourable to the Czech delegation, which amassed its all-time best of nine medals. Only the global sporting powerhouses of Italy, Great Britain, Spain and Germany collected more.

A spot among the European elite, and an upward curve in the performance of Czech athletic juniors put a smile on the face of Pavel Sluka, the head coach of the senior athletics national team:

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“I don't want to say that I expected this kind of result, but of course I know that this generation right here is incredibly strong. I am, of course, very happy for that, and I’m following closely who from this generation will make the jump to the senior national team. I think that quite a few of the athletes, notably those who have won the medals here, will definitely appear in the senior national team in the future,” he says.

Michal Rada was top of the heap among Czech medallists. On his way to gold on the 400m hurdles, he ran the fastest time for an under-20 athlete in the world this season, and bettered the European Junior Championship record. He was also the anchor of the 4x400m relay team which too struck gold with a national U20 record performance.

Petr Meindlschmid completed the tally of three gold medals at the Championship in long jump. With his season’s best result, he leaped for an impressive 7.89m, clearing his nearest opponent by a comfortable 20cm.

Rounding up the record-breaking medal tally, the remaining six medals, all bronze, came from a range of disciplines – hurdles, sprint, steeplechase, and pole vault. Jan Koutník is the head of the junior section of the Czech Athletics Federation, and says that the scope of the present success is a result of a methodical re-think within the organization:

Head of the Youth Department of the Czech Athletic Association Jan Koutník|Photo: Czech Athletic Association

“In the past, we slightly underestimated the preparation of athletes, or just didn’t take it too seriously. If you look at the junior disciplines now, the level and the stakes are a lot higher, there are some incredible athletes. So, we started putting a lot more emphasis on calming our athletes before competitions, and also preparing them tactically,” he explains.

In doing so, Koutník says that the Czech Athletics Federation is getting up to speed with the latest trends in the world of athletics, which have already brought success to other parts of the continent:

“We talk a lot with the Dutch, and look at what they are doing. They are a similar-size nation of about twenty million people, and very successful in athletics in recent years, so they are quite an interesting comparison. The Swiss are also very good in some respects. We are in contact with them too, about what they are doing in terms of training methods and medical treatment,” he describes.

This new conception is part of a ten-year project revealed in 2022, where the Czech Athletics Federation put in place an action plan to overcome what it called “a period of crisis and underwhelming results”.

At last year’s World Junior Championships, glimpses of excellence started to show. Two gold medals, courtesy of sprinter Lurdes Gloria Manuel and decathlete Tomas Järvinen – both recent graduates to the senior category – were the first foreshadowing of better things to come for Czech athletics.

Barbora Špotáková|Photo: Adam Kebrt, Czech Radio

In the past, Czechia contributed its fair share of world-class athletes, such as long-distance runner Emil Zátopek, who has been dubbed the ‘greatest runner of all time’ by Runner's World magazine, or Jan Železný and Barbora Špotáková, who to this day hold the world record javelin throws in both the male and female categories. The current success of junior athletes hence allows for quiet optimism at the Czech Athletics Federation, that the country’s flag could once again fly high on the global stage.