Freweyni Hailu, Hirut Meshesha go head-to-head in a mile race in Ostrava tomorrow

Addis Ababa, January 29, 2024 (FBC) – Ethiopia’s Freweyni Hailu and her compatriot Hirut Meshesha as well as other athletes from across the world are looking to make a statement when they compete at the Czech Indoor Gala – this season’s second World Athletics Indoor Tour Gold meeting – in Ostrava on Tuesday (30).

Following the opening World Indoor Tour Gold event in Astana on Saturday (27 January), the Czech city’s Atletická hala will welcome athletes for its first meeting as part of the tour’s top tier.

In that regard, both Freweyni Hailu (world indoor 800m silver medallist) and Hirut Meshesha (the world indoor 1500m bronze medallist) will go head-to-head as the Czech Indoor Gala hosts a women’s mile race for the first time.

Hailu, who claimed silver in the mile at the World Athletics Road Running Championships Riga 23 in October, has a track mile PB of 4:14.79 set outdoors in Monaco last year, while Meshesha clocked 4:20.00 in Oslo in June. Both have experience of racing in Ostrava having previously competed at the city’s outdoor Golden Spike meeting.

The men’s 1500m features Portugal’s Isaac Nader and Czech record-holder Filip Sasinek, while the men’s 800m entries include Czech athletes Filip Snejdr and Jakub Dudycha, the European U20 champion. They go up against Poland’s 2021 European indoor silver medallist Mateusz Borkowski, Italy’s Catalin Tecuceanu, British champion Daniel Rowden and Botswana’s world sixth-place finisher Tshepiso Masalela, making his short track debut.