World high jump bronze medallist Jan Stefela was crowned Czech Athlete of the Year for the first time in Prague on Saturday (8) evening.
As well as winning bronze in Tokyo, Stefela won a silver medal at the European Athletics Indoor Championships and also cleared a lifetime best of 2.33m at the European Athletics Team Championships before taking three attempts at 2.36m to equal the Czech record.
"I wanted to try to win a medal at the European Indoor Championships in Apeldoorn. That was the best chance and I succeeded but as they say, eating makes you want more, so I also wanted to win a medal at the World Championships. By coincidence and luck I managed to do it in Tokyo," said Stefela who dominated the voting, claiming first-place by 169 of the 175 voters.
Stefela was crowned Czech Athlete of the Year ahead of world pole vaulter fourth-placer Amalie Svabikova with European indoor shot put silver medallist Tomas Stanek finishing third in the overall voting.
Stefela’s coach Jaroslav Baba, the 2004 Olympic high jump bronze medallist and co-holder of the Czech record at 2.36m, was named Coach of the Year while European U20 400m hurdles champion Michal Rada was crowned Junior Athlete of the Year and Discovery of the Year.
Rada won gold in the 400m hurdles in Tampere in 48.78 - a championship record and just 0.04 shy of the long-standing European U20 record - and was also part of Czechia’s gold medal-winning team in the 4x400m on the final day of the championships.
Photo courtesy of CAS – Ondřej Plechaček