Adam Ptáček () (born 8 October 1980 in

Ostrava Ostrava (; ; ) is a city in the north-east of the Czech Republic and the capital of the Moravian-Silesian Region. It has about 283,000 inhabitants. It lies from the border with Poland, at the confluences of four rivers: Oder, Opava (river), Opa ...

) is a Czech former

pole vault Pole vaulting, also known as pole jumping, is a track and field event in which an athlete uses a long and flexible pole, usually made from fiberglass or carbon fiber, as an aid to jump over a #bar, bar. Pole jumping was already practiced by the ...

er. His jump of 5.81 metres, set in February 2003, remains a national indoor record. He was the national record holder for outdoor pole vault after jumping 5.80 metres in July 2002, until the mark was beaten in 2015.

Career

Ptáček won the bronze medal at the

1998 World Junior Championships 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water Ice is water tha ...

Annecy Annecy ( , ; , also ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of the Haute-Savoie Departments of France, department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Regions of France, regi ...

, France. In July 2002, Ptáček registered a new personal best and a Czech record by jumping 5.80 metres in

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

. The height was four centimetres higher than the previous record, which he had jointly held with

Štěpán Janáček Štěpán Janáček (; born 12 June 1977 in Prague) is a Czech former pole vaulter. He finished eighth at the 2001 IAAF World Indoor Championships, 2001 World Indoor Championships, second at the 2001 Summer Universiade and fifth at the 2002 Europe ...

. His outdoor mark of 5.80 metres remained the Czech record until June 2015. He finished sixth at August's 2002 European Championships in Munich with a clearance of 5.70 metres. In February 2003, Ptáček jumped 5.81 metres indoors, a mark which set a new absolute national record lasting until Michal Balner beat it by one centimetre in June 2015. Ptáček competed at the 2003 World Indoor Championships in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

and the 2003 World Championships in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

without qualifying for the final stages. He met the qualifying conditions for the

2004 Olympic Games The 2004 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad (), and officially branded as Athens 2004 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 13 to 29 August 2004 in Athens, Greece. The Games saw 10,625 athletes ...

after jumping 5.65 metres in Strahov in February 2004, a performance which also qualified him for that year's World Indoor Championships in March. Ptáček took silver at the 2004 World Indoor Championships after jumping 5.70 metres in Budapest, and won his country's second medal of the championships after high jumper

Jaroslav Bába Jaroslav Bába () (born 2 September 1984 in Karviná) is a Czech Republic, Czech high jumper. At the 2004 IAAF World Indoor Championships he jumped 2.25 metres, winning a joint bronze medal along with Germaine Mason and Ştefan Vasilache. In th ...

. At the Summer Olympics in

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

in August, Ptáček jumped 5.30 metres and 5.50 metres at the first attempt but was unable to record any more clearances, failing at 5.60 and 5.65 metres. He then withdrew from the competition due to a calf injury. In June 2007, Ptáček jumped 5.82 metres in Prague in a city square contest, something which is not recognised by the IAAF. When attempting to jump 5.86 metres at the same event, he sustained an elbow injury and did not complete the jump.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ptacek, Adam 1980 births Living people Czech male pole vaulters Athletes (track and field) at the 2004 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes for the Czech Republic Athletes from Ostrava Czech Athletics Championships winners 21st-century Czech sportsmen