Petr Svoboda (; born 10 October 1984 in Třebíč, Czechoslovakia) is a Czech track and field athlete, competing in the sprint hurdles. He currently holds national records in both

110 metres hurdles The 110 metres hurdles, or 110-metre hurdles, is a hurdling track and field event for men. It is included in the athletics programme at the Summer Olympic Games. The female counterpart is the 100 metres hurdles. As part of a racing event, ten hur ...

(13.27, 2010) and

60 metres hurdles 60 metres hurdles is a distance in hurdling which is generally run in indoor competitions. It is equivalent with the first 5 hurdles of a standard outdoor hurdle race. The current women's and men's world records are 7.68 seconds ( Susanna K ...

(7.44, 2010). On 6 March he won a bronze medal at the

2009 European Indoor Championships The 2009 European Athletics Indoor Championships was held in Turin, Italy, from Friday, 6 March to Sunday, 8 March 2009. The championships took place at the Oval Lingotto indoor arena

in Torino.

Biography

After breaking the national record for the 110m hurdles, he went to the

2010 European Athletics Championships The 2010 European Athletics Championships were the 20th edition of the European Athletics Championships, organised under the supervision of the European Athletic Association. They were held at the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys in Barcelona, Cat ...

in Barcelona later that year as one of the favourites. However, the gold went to Andy Turner as Svoboda, having led with 30 metres to go, collided badly with a hurdle, and went on to finish in a disappointing 6th place. On 4 March 2011, Svoboda won the gold medal in the 60m hurdles at the

2011 European Athletics Indoor Championships The 2011 European Athletics Indoor Championships were held at the Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy in Paris, France, from 4 to 6 March 2011. 577 athletes representing 46 countries competed at the championships. Twenty-six track and field events we ...

. Although Turner decided against competing, Svoboda beat Frenchman Garfield Darien who has to settle for a second silver to match the one he won in Barcelona. On 21 September 2012 he married the pole vaulter

Jiřina Ptáčníková Jiřina Kudličková, née Ptáčníková (; born 20 May 1986) is a former Czech pole vaulter. She won the 2012 European Athletics Championships in Helsinki and the 2014 World Indoor Championships. Biography She is the daughter of the Czech spr ...

, however the couple divorced in 2014. In 2011, Svoboda suffered a heel injury, which interrupted his career for next three years. In May 2014, he announced return to professional athletics.

Achievements

References

External links

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Athlete's profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Svoboda, Petr 1984 births Living people Czech male hurdlers Athletes (track and field) at the 2008 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes of the Czech Republic World Athletics Championships athletes for the Czech Republic Sportspeople from Třebíč