Two Olympic winners, six world champions, ten European champions and one current world record holder – such a group of foreign athletic stars are preparing for next week’s 56th P-T-S meeting in Šamorín.
“We tried to compile the program so that we have top athletes in each discipline, but with an emphasis on the Slovak representatives, as P-T-S has the silver status, which means a chance to get bonus points for the Olympic qualification,” explained the meeting director Vladimír Gubrický at the press conference in Bratislava on Thursday.
So, what fights of top athletes from Slovakia and the world will be offered to athletic fans in a four-hour program on Wednesday, June 2, from 16:00 to 20:00, at the 56th P-T-S in the x-bionic® sphere sports complex?
For example, the European 60 m indoor champion Ján Volko will run the 100 m against the last year P-T-S winner and 2019 world relay champion Mike Rodgers from the USA, whose personal best is 9.85! The hammer thrower Marcel Lomnický will also be fighting the bronze medalist from the 2019 World Cup, the Hungarian Bence Halász, in the “home” sector, which he had specially prepared for his needs on Wednesday. High jumpers Matúš Bubeník and Lukáš Beer will jump with the Italian showman, indoor world and European ex-champion Gianmarco Tamberi and with the world vice-champion from 2019 Michail Akimenko from Russia. The javelin throwers of coach Jozef Hanušovský (Jakub Kubinec, Maximilián Slezák, Patrik Michalec) will have a unique chance to compete with the reigning world champion Anderson Peters. “The javelin thrower from Grenada is already in Šamorín, where he will be preparing until the P-T-S,” said Vladimír Gubrický. And the 3 000 m race walk will also be special, as for Matej Tóth it will be his last race before the defense of Olympic gold. Šimon Bujna – Oliver Murcko will also try to reach the podium and a quality time as deep as possible below 46.50, and Martin Kučera can have similar ambitions in a quality competition in the 400 m hurdles.
And what can you look forward to in women’s events? Martina Hrašnová’s opponent will be the history best hammer thrower, 2-time Olympic champion, a 4-time world champion and world record holder Anita Wlodarczyk from Poland. Emma Zapletalová can return the loss from the recent Diamond League in Gateshead to the British Jessica Turner in 400 m hurdles. Slovak 100m hurdles record holder Stanislava Škvarková, fighting for a spot in Tokyo, will race against this year’s European 3rd Luca Kozák from Hungary and former junior European champion Anna Zagré from Belgium. Gabika Gajanová will present herself at the 800 m in a duel with British medium-track record holders, star Laura Muir and also Jemma Reekie, who have already gotten under 1:59 min this year. Monika Weigert will try to drive the American Dezere Bryant (personal best 100m in 10.99 m), the relay medalist for 4 x 100 m from the junior and senior World Championships.
The main program concludes 16 events, eight men’s (100 m, 200 m, 400 m, 400 m hurdles, high jump, hammer throw, javelin throw, 3000 m race walk) and the same number of women’s events (100 m, 400 m, 800 m, 100 m hurdles, 400 m hurdles, long jump, hammer throw, 3000 m race walk).
“I believe that this time we will continue to build on previous successful years,” hopes Ladislav Asványi, Vice President of Slovak Athletic Federation and of the P-T-S Organizing Committee. “Despite the unfavourable economic situation of many of our traditional partners, when it is very difficult to find money for budget, we have not given up. We want to offer Slovakia an interesting sports event again and, last but not least, to present our top athletes to the public. An important reason that we started again is the fact that we want to help the Slovak top athletes in the Olympic qualification. Tokyo is approaching, there is not much time and unfortunately, so far, the weather does not wish us to meet the limits. I believe that thanks to P-T-S, more athletes will join the Slovak team.”
Thanks to the silver status of the World Athletics Continental Tour series, the athletes in the first eight places will receive bonus points from 100 for the 1st place to 40 for the 8th place (100-80-70-60-55-50-45-40) for their performance.
The budget of the event is approximately 200 000 euros, of which three quarters are from the sources of Slovak Athletic Federation and about a quarter should be a contribution from the Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Sports. According to the rules of rallies with silver status, approximately 70 000 euros goes to financial rewards for placements. “We have all the finances from previous years settled, we are not pushing any debts ahead of us. We started the preparations for this year with a clean shield,” stressed Ladislav Asványi.
The race will take place under strict anti-pandemic measures. Before entering the sports complex, everyone will have to undergo an antigen test for Covid-19, or prove their own test (from the day of the race), a complete vaccination against Covid-19 or confirmation of overcoming the disease. According to the currently valid measures, spectators will also be able to be in the stands – but only five hundred. Three hundred tickets have been reserved by the organizers for athletes, who can dedicate them to their coaches or family members as needed. The remaining 200 will be for the public: those interested can register on the P-T-S meeting website (www.p-t-s.sk) and the organizers will draw 100 lucky people on Sunday, May 30 in the afternoon, each of whom will receive two tickets.
If you are not lucky, you can watch the main program of P-T-S 2021 live on the RTVS :2 from 18:00 to 20:00. However, the TV signal will be transmitted to more than 70 countries, including the USA, the Great Britain, Canada, Poland, Ireland, Australia, Norway, Ukraine, and Croatia. “This is also proof that the legendary P-T-S still has a good reputation in the world,” said Ladislav Asványi.
If you are not lucky, you can watch the main program P-T-S 2021 live on the RTVS :2 from 18:00 to 20:00. However, the TV cable signal will be transmitted to more than 70 countries, including the USA, the Great Britain, Canada, Poland, Ireland, Australia, Norway, Ukraine, and Croatia. “This is also proof that the legendary P-T-S still has a good reputation in the world,” said Ladislav Asványi.
CHAMPIONS AT THE 2021 P-T-S MEETING
2 – OLYMPIC WINNERS (Matej Tóth/50 km race walk, Anita Wlodarczyk/hammer throw)
6 – WORLD CHAMPIONS (Mike Rodgers/4 x 100 m, Richard Kilty/60 m, Gianmarco Tamberi/high jump, Anderson Peters/javelin throw, Vitězslav Veselý/javelin throw, Matej Tóth/50 km race walk, Anita Wlodarczyk/hammer throw)
10 – EUROPEAN CHAMPIONS (Ján Volko/60 m, Richard Kilty/60 m, Gianmarco Tamberi/high jump, Vítězslav Veselý/javelin throw, Yousif Rabah/4 x 400 m, Laura Muir/1500 and 3000 m, Maryna Bekh-Romanchuk/long jump, Anita Wlodarczyk/hammer throw, Imani Lansiquot/4 x 100 m, Malgorzata Holub-Kowalik/4 x 400 m)
1 – WORLD RECORD HOLDER (Anita Wlodarczyk/hammer throw)