Johnson out as Zelezny takes centre stage in Ostrava
Ed Gordon and Alfons Juck for IAAF 

31 May 2001 - The biggest crowd in the 40-year history of the Ostrava meeting filled the Vitkovice Stadium on Thursday night in full expectation of seeing Michael Johnson anchor a US 4x400 relay to a big victory.  It was to have been the European start of his "farewell tour".   

Unfortunately, it didn't happen.   

Early on Thursday morning, before travelling to Ostrava from Prague, Johnson received word from Texas that his mother had suffered a serious heart attack the previous day, and he left for home immediately.    

Filling in for Johnson at short notice in the relay was Danny McCray.  His 44.8 lap easily brought the American team to victory in 3:01.49, ahead of the Czech Republic's 3:03.62.   

Even though Johnson's absence disappointed the audience, they needed to look no further than Jan Zelezny as their hero of the evening.  And to be frank, the Olympic javelin champion was always going to be in the centre ring for this highly partisan crowd.   

Striding to the runway for each throw to the chant of "Honza, Honza, Honza!" (the diminutive for the name Jan), the Olympic champion toyed with the 90 metres mark on his first throw at 89.45m, which held up as the best of the evening. 

Steve Backley gave Zelezny a challenge with a first-round 87.84m, but the competition never changed after that. 

"I wanted to throw over 90 metres tonight," Zelezny said, most likely in response to the world-leading 91.27m of Kostas Gatsioudis last week.   

Another leadoff winner was Younes Moudrik in the long jump with 8.06m. James Beckford came close to overtaking the Moroccan, but his best of 8.03 just fell short.   

One record fell during the program.  Mikulas Konopka of Slovakia won the shot put in a close contest with Miroslav Menc of the Czech Republic.  To beat his more experienced Czech rival, the young Konopka needed to throw 20.66m to hold an advantage over Menc's 20.64m.  It was an under-23 European record for Konopka, as well as a Slovak national record.

The most outstanding event on the track was Wilson Boit Kipketer's 8:09.01 victory in the steeplechase, but it missed the Kenyan's goal for the evening. 

"I wanted to run a year's best tonight, but I just missed it," Kipketer told the crowd afterwards.  

It was fitting that an event involving water should be the highlight of the track events, since a light drizzle was falling for much of the competition. 

This hindered the times in the short races, although several produced exciting duels.

In the men's hurdles, Colin Jackson and Chris Phillips were running even until the last three barriers when the Briton began to fall back.  In the outside lane, Yevgeniy Pechonkin began to mount a challenge as the race neared its climax.  It was all the American could do to salvage a win with a 13.47 clocking, compared with 13.48 for the Russian.  Jackson had no problem holding third with 13.57.  

The women's hurdle event was just as close, as Aliuska Lopez of Cuba edged EllaKisha Williamson of the US, 13.17 to 13.18. 

One other notable result came from Ian Weakley's gutsy finish in the 400m hurdles to win in 48.99. 

MEN 

100 METRES (-0.2):   1. Bailey (CAN) 10.34;  2. Mitchell (USA) 10.40;  3. Aliu (NGR) 10.44;   4. Rurak (UKR) 10.50;  5. Emmanuel (NGR) 10.69; 6. Bren 10.73;  Zubek 10.74.  Did not finish:  Saddler (USA) [pulled up after about 60 metres] 

200 METRES (0.7):   1. Zachoval 20.83;  2. Colombo (ITA) 20.96;  3. Louhala (ALG) 20.98;   4. Batangdon (CMR) 21.03;  5. Vojtik 21.10;  6. Kaidash (UKR) 21.32;   7. Brinansky (SVK) 21.47;  8. Havlicek 21.62.   

STEEPLECHASE:  1. Boit Kipketer (KEN) 8:09.01;  2. Cherono (KEN) 8:20.28;  3. Weidlinger (AUT) 8:23.62;  4. Zakrzewski (POL) 8:25.61;  5. Kibiwot (KEN) 8:29.06;  6. Turki (TUN) 8:29.25;  7. Wojcik (POL) 8:29.80;  8. Proll (AUT) 8:30.09;  9. Skoog (SWE) 8:30.32;  10. Retko (UKR) 8:30.51;  11. Nejedly (CZE) 8:38.65;  12. Maffei (ITA) 8:38.69; 13. Barngetuny (KEN) 8:44.03;  14. Kapkory (KEN) 9:13.63.   Pacemaker: Taurus (KEN).   

110 HURDLES (-0.1):   1. Phillips (USA) 13.47;  2. Pechonkin (RUS) 13.48;  3. Jackson (GBR) 13.57;  4. K Mehlich (POL) 13.90;  5. Sebrle 14.01;  6. Dvorak 14.04;   7. Lavanne (FRA) 14.15;  8. Grava (FRA) 14.19. 

400 HURDLES:  1. Weakley (JAM) 48.99;  2. Januszewski (POL) 49.59; 3. Muzik 49.60;  4. Borsumato (GBR) 49.86;  5. Sanchez (DOM) 50.04; 6. Ladejo (GBR) 51.19;  7. Soucek 51.21.   Did not finish:  Harnden (ZIM).

4x400 RELAY:  1.   USA  (Jer. Davis 45.8 - Mills 45.5 - Carter 45.4 - McCray 44.8)  3:01.49;   2. Czech Republic I  [Blaha - Zachoval – Tesarik - Muzik] 3:03.62;   3. Poland 3:04.73;  4. International Team  3:06.31;  5. Czech Republic II 3:09.94. 

HIGH JUMP:  1. J Janku 2.27;  2. Voronin (RUS) 2.27;  3. Frosen (FIN) 2.27;  4. Holm (SWE) 2.20;  5. Ton 2.20;  6. Moros (BLR) and Ort 2.15; 8. Lesnichiy (BLR) and Krehula 2.15.   

LONG JUMP:  1. Moudrik (MAR) 8.06 (1.6);  2. Beckford (JAM) 8.03 (0.2);  3. Toure (FRA) 7.96 (0.2);  4. Kovar 7.71 (1.7);  5. Atanasov (BUL) 7.68 (1.4).  

SHOT PUT:  1. Konopka (SVK) 20.66 NR;  2. Menc 20.64;  3. Stehlik 20.30;  4. Nordin (SWE) 19.89;  5. Dal Soglio (ITA) 19.88;  6. Mikhnevich (BLR) 19.82;  7. Pankuch (SVK) 18.85. 

JAVELIN:  1. Zelezny 89.47 [89.47 - x - 88.26 - x - x - x];  2. Backley (GBR) 87.84 [87.84 - x - 81.41 - x - 85.57 - 84.90];  3. Hill (GBR) 78.71; 4. Guzdek 78.55;  5. Hoegler (AUT) 77.22;  6. Landmesser 71.44;  7.Novacek 67.91. 

WOMEN 

400 METRES:  1. Shinkins (IRL) 52.27;  2. Mishchenko (UKR) 52.34;  3.Rosikhina (RUS) 52.35;   4. Burianova 52.43;  5. Afolabi (NGR) 52.80;  6.Prokopek (POL) 53.40;   7. Lemiesz (POL) 53.90.   

800 METRES:  1. Krakowiak (LIT) 2:03.52;  2. Misiruk (UKR) 2:03.62;  3.Fiut (POL) 2:03.88;   4. Samaria 2:04.03;  5. Sedlakova 2:04.58;  6.Kochetkova (RUS) 2:05.17;   7. Lochmanova 2:09.42;  8. Klocova 2:10.14;  9. Simkova 2:10.42.   

100 HURDLES (-0.4):   1. Lopez (CUB) 13.17;  2. Williamson (USA) 13.18;  3. Carson (USA) 13.26;   4. Roberts (USA) 13.36;  5. Kirkland (USA) 13.45;  6. Hejnova 13.83;   7. Skrobakova 13.89;  8. Ostravska 14.23.   

POLE VAULT:  1. Balakhonova (UKR) 4.42 [4.22 - 4.42 - 4.47/xxx];  2. Grigorieva (AUS) 4.42 [4.12 - 4.32 - 4.42/2 - 4.47/xxx];  3. Hamackova 4.32;  4. Badurova 4.12;  5. Palasova 3.92;  6. Boulova 3.72.  No height: Koleva (BUL) two misses at 4.12, then withdrew. 

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