European javelin silver medallist Nikola Ogrodnikova was crowned Czech Athlete of the Year for the first time on Saturday (10) at Czech Athletics Federation’s annual Gala which was staged the Ambassador Hotel in Prague and broadcast live once again on Czech television.
Ogrodnikova extended the excellent record of Czech women receiving this accolade with other recent winners also including world javelin record-holder Barbora Spotakova on nine occasions and two-time world 400m hurdles champion Zuzana Hejnova twice.
Female athletes from Czech Republic also won their country’s three medals at the European Championships in Berlin and Ogrodnikova was followed in the scoring by European 20km race walk silver medallist Anezka Drahotova.
More than 140 respondents submitted their vote - coaches, officials and media representatives - and Ogrodnikova accrued 1225 points ahead of Drahotova (1101) with world indoor shot put bronze medallist Tomas Stanek third with 1062 points. Stanek set an outright national record of 22.17m during the indoor season and was also fourth at the European Championships in Berlin.
Two more major medal winners rounded out the top five with European marathon bronze medallist Eva Vrabcova-Nyvltova fourth (1003) and three-time world indoor 400m champion Pavel Maslak fifth (643).
Ogrodnikova’s coach Rudolf Cerny was named Czech Coach of the Year for a joint record fifth time with 40 votes to join other five-time winners Dalibor Kupka and Jan Zelezny.
Elsewhere, world U20 pole vault champion Amalie Svabikova was named Czech Junior of the Year with 92 votes ahead of European U18 400m champion Barbora Malikova while surprise European 800m finalist Lukas Hodbod was named Czech Breakthrough Athlete of the Year with 47 votes.