Slovakia’s 2024 U18 400m champion Lenka Gymerská knows what it’s like to win medal on the SNP Dukla Stadium track in Banska Bystrica that will stage the fourth edition of the European Athletics U18 Championships between 18-21 July.
It was on the same track that Gymerská won a 400m silver medal at the 2022 European Youth Olympic Festival (EYOF) and she has already competed on it three times this season, including at the Slovak U18 Championships two weeks ago.
Now the 17-year-old sprinter, who celebrated her birthday on Wednesday, will go in search of another continental medal late this month with her confidence riding high.
“I have the ambition to get under 54 seconds, which would be a new Slovak record in my age category. Maybe it could be enough for a leading placement. I am very satisfied with the victory and my performance at last week's Czechia-Hungary-Slovak Republic three-nations competition. I already wanted a new personal best there, but a strong headwind prevented it.,” added the member of AŠK Slávia Trnava, one of Slovakia’s leading athletics clubs.
Gymerská knows that going under 54 seconds will most likely be needed to get a medal with five European U18 sprinters alreday having run under 53.50, led by Poland's Anastazja Kuś who ran a Polish U18 record of 52.26 at the Polish senior championships last month.
However, it is worth noting that although Alexandra Štuková’s Slovak U18 record over one lap of the track of 54.09 has stood since 2006, Gymerská is starting to bear down on it following her personal best of 54.66 in May and is inspired by the fact that Štuková went on to take a world U18 400m bronze medal in 2007.
Motivational quotations also inspire the student at a bilingual high school in her home city of Trnava.
"A sentence from my favourite book The Cruel Prince by Holly Black says that there is no need to be afraid, but to cause fear. In a sporting sense, when I feel at a race that others have respect for me, I immediately run better," said Gymerská, who speaks fluent English.
Gymerská has been focussing on the forthcoming championships, where family and friends will undoubtably be in the audience as she only lives approximately 160 kilometres from Banska Bystrica, since the start of the year and her preparations have included a pair of two-week warm weather training camps in the Canary Islands during school holidays.
“And it has been a good plan. In addition to Banská Bystrica, I now also have the qualifying time for the World Athletics U20 Championships in Peru [27-31 August] and even for next year's European Athletics U20 Championships in Finland.”
Gymerská augmented her international experience at last year’s European Athletics U20 Championships in Jerusalem, where she was competing against athletes up to three years older.
“Jerusalem was a good test of a completely new type,” she reflected, looking back fondly on her trip to Israel despite not making the final. “And I am very pleased that I will be able to make use of all my experience so far in Banska Bystrica.
“It is a huge plus [for me] that these championships will be held there. There is no need to travel anywhere far, I have been to the stadium many times and it will definitely have a very supportive atmosphere.
“I hope that even more Slovak athletics fans will come than the European Youth Olympic Festival in 2022," she added.
Miki Kočan (Banska Bystrica 2024 LOC) and Phil Minshull for European Athletics