2011 European indoor hurdles champion Svoboda to have Achilles surgery | 22.01.2012

European indoor champion Petr Svoboda of the Czech Republic.

The 2011 European Athletics Indoor Championships 60m hurdles gold medallist Petr Svoboda has said that he will miss the indoor season after further injury problems.

The Czech athlete, last year's fastest European hurdler indoors with a best of 7.48 when he won his national championships in Prague, got a foot injury at a training camp in Gran Canaria, Spain, in April and missed all the outdoor season, including the World Championships.

Svoboda returned to training in October but he has since suffered from a problem with his right Achilles and will undergo surgery next week. He hopes to be back in training by the middle of next month.

“My main goals remain the European Athletics Championships in Helsinki and the Olympic Games in London. I will actually start back in training and my preparations for the summer much  earlier than I would if I competed indoors,“ said Svoboda, who holds the Czech 110m hurdles record outdoors with the 13.27 he ran in 2010.