They needed to cover a kilometer under a minute. Wagner was half a second short of advancing
The eighth and final finalist, Alejandro Martinez Chorro of Spain, completed four laps in 59.938 seconds. “I was expecting it to be fast, maybe six people going under a minute, but I didn’t expect that the advance time for everyone meant going under a minute. There were three or four times under a minute in Europe,” compared the competitor from Zábřeh in Moravia.
Jaborníková improved her personal touch at the WC, Bábek blamed himself for bad decisions
In mid-August, Wagner also finished eleventh at the European Championship in Munich, with a time one second slower. “I always put the best into the race that I can at the given time. Now I had two goals before the start: I wanted to improve my position from Munich and set a new person for myself,” said the 29-year-old sprinter.
Before the race, Brno coach Petr Klimeš wanted his wards to be in the top ten. Wagner was a notch worse. “We can be satisfied with Robin, we have improved our personality, which is important. We changed his tactics a bit, the transfer, adjusted the position,” said the coach. “Eight competitors under a minute, it’s never been here before. Robin wasn’t extremely far from the top eight,” he added.
For Wagner, it was the only start in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, he did not jump in the team sprint, because the Czech team did not advance from the qualification. “I leave with mixed feelings. Osobák is fine, unfortunately it was not enough for an eight. I have to do even more next time,” said the Czech representative.
Bábek won the European championship in his rich career in the fixed kilometer and became world runner-up, this time his time of 1:01.603 was not enough to advance. “With great respect for what Babson has accomplished and what he has accomplished, I have to add that no champion goes all the way to heaven. It has been absolutely full for several seasons and something has already made its mark on it. I don’t want to throw a flint in the rye, he had some of the best results this year, but it just didn’t suit him here,” said the coach from Brno and the national team.
The Brno trackmen entered the championship with ninth place in the team sprint
In the evening finals, only four track runners already clocked under a minute. Qualification winner Jeffrey Hoogland of the Netherlands accelerated by almost two tenths to claim world gold with a performance of 58.106. The local Melvin Landerneau jumped to the second place and even the Spaniard Martinez Chorro to the third place. “It’s a great competition, classically, like every year, the fastest kilák drove here,” noted Klimeš.
On Saturday, Veronika Jaborníková will compete in the 500 meter race with a fixed start and Martin Čechman will compete in the individual sprint. “Čechy is in a good mood, he could show his above standard. In our conditions, the minimum access to the wooden track is reduced the most in the sprint. I believe that the Czech Republic will make us happy with a good time on two meters and then a place in the sprint,” wished Klimeš.