Unexpected news, Šebrle returns to athletics! He will lead Czech talent

He was preparing for his top events at Juliska in Prague, from which he brought a total of eighteen medals, nine of which were gold. Now he goes to the same stadium with a stopwatch to oversee the training of 23-year-old Ondřej Kopecký, 30-year-old Marek Lukáš and Latvian decathlon fighter Reinis Kregers, who has been living in the Czech Republic for a long time.

Everything was baked for traditional football, which Šebrle organizes. Between the matches, he spoke to Kopecký. The talented multi-champion holds the Czech junior indoor record in heptathlon, but after the transition among adults, his performance stagnated. Both also share the name of the Pardubice coach Jiří Čechák, who in the past led Šebrle and now prepared Kopecký.

“Ondra had told me before if I would advise him. He trained partly in Pardubice, he devoted himself to pole vaulting in Prague, he felt that it was not ideal. We talked if I wouldn’t write him trainings, but that wouldn’t work, so there was a variant if I didn’t train him fully, “describes Šebrle.

He took two weeks to think. “I’m not the type to nod to something and then back off, I needed to think about it,” he explains.

Finally, after considering all the pros and cons, he nodded. My children have grown up, their son Štěpán and daughter Kateřina have chosen a football route and have already made it to the national teams of their age categories. And so the work responsibilities remained to be resolved.

“They meet me on Prime. By spinning three moderator pairs, it can be done. And when there is a longer concentration, we can switch the moderation and then I’ll catch up, “he calculates.

“By the end of the year, I still have commitments that I have to fulfill, but I will be more flexible towards the summer season. There won’t be time just for golf, “he regrets a little that he will lose his favorite pastime.

Multi-combat box

Kopecký was joined in the group by Marek and Kregers, a participant in the last European Championship in Berlin. They were preparing under the leadership of Josef Karas, who decided to slim down his group significantly.

According to Sport.cz, Olympians Adam Sebastian Helcelet and Jiří Sýkora should prepare with sprinter coach Jakub Uhr, Lukáš and Kregers headed for Šebrlem.

“It’s definitely better when the group is bigger, and the boys can pull in training,” acknowledges the first decathlon fighter in history, who surpassed 9,000 points. Now he has also pulled out his older training diaries, according to which he prepared for coaches Zdeněk Váni and Dalibor Kupka. “I reckon that I will also complete coaching courses, I can also consult with my wife,” says Šebrle, whose wife Eva trains young people at Prague’s Aritma.

He believes in shifting

“But I never dropped out of athletics, I kept watching the boys doing,” the 46-year-old decathlon legend believes that his charges will move more significantly.

“Ondra Kopecký now has problems with his knee, but his personal records were good and he has great potential if he is healthy. Marek Lukáš has his limits in the distance, for example, but he was already short of 8000 points and I believe that he can get through them, “adds Šebrle.

– .