Pavel Maslak will be looking to further embellish his status as the master of the boards with his seventh major indoor 400m title at the Glasgow 2019 European Athletics Indoor Championships from 1-3 March.
Maslak has won the last three editions of the IAAF World Indoor Championships and European Indoor Championships. Not since 2012 has the Czech been beaten in a major event and Maslak is in contention to join some very exclusive company with a fourth successive European indoor title at the Emirates Arena.
Only five athletes have won four European indoor titles in the same event in succession - the most recent being Great Britain’s Jason Gardener in the 60m between 2000 and 2007 - and Maslak is only one title away after a brace of victories stretching back to Gothenburg six years ago.
From Gothenburg, Maslak defended his title on home soil in Prague 2015 where he broke the championship record with 45.33 before winning his third title on the bounce in Belgrade last March in 45.77.
The Czech won his first major title outdoors at the European Championships in Helsinki six years ago but Maslak’s reputation has very much been shaped by his prowess on the boards. Now 27, Maslak is also targeting overall victory on the IAAF World Indoor Tour next winter as a precursor to a tilt on a fourth European indoor 400m title in Glasgow.
Maslak provided one of the unforgettable moments for the hosts at the European Indoor Championships three years ago. Another came from Jakub Holusa who pipped Türkiye’s Ilham Tanui Ozbilen on the line in the 1500m final courtesy of a desperate but devastating charge off the bend.
Holusa had a season of highs and lows in 2018, setting Czech 1500m records of 3:32.85 and 3:32.49 in the build-up to the European Championships in Berlin. Holusa was touted as a medal favourite but the 30-year-old, whose finishing speed can make him so dangerous in a championship environment, admitted he might have peaked too early and didn’t qualify for the final.
'That is in the past,” said Holusa. “I need to learn from this lesson and be better prepared for the main events in 2019.'
Former world and Olympic 400m hurdles champion Zuzana Hejnova was looking to complete the set of major outdoor titles in Berlin but her chances were compromised by an injury-plagued build-up to the European Championships.
Hejnova went out in the semifinal stage in Berlin but she is also planning an indoor season on the road to the IAAF World Championships in Doha next September.