Pavel Maslák (, born 21 February 1991) is a Czech sprinter who specialises in the

200 metres The 200 metres, or 200-meter dash, is a sprint running event. On an outdoor 400-metre racetrack, the race begins on the curve and ends on the home straight, so a combination of techniques is needed to successfully run the race. A slight ...

and

400 metres The 400 metres, or 400-meter dash, is a sprint event in track and field competitions. It has been featured in the athletics programme at the Summer Olympics since 1896 for men and since 1964 for women. On a standard outdoor running track, it is ...

. He is the only athlete in history who has won the 400 m title at the World Indoor Championships at three consecutive championships. Maslák is the first Czech to have run 400 metres under 45 seconds outdoor and under 46 seconds indoor.

Personal life

Pavel Maslák was born on 21 February 1991 in

Havířov Havířov () is a city in Karviná District in the Moravian-Silesian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 69,000 inhabitants, making it the second largest city in the region. Havířov was founded in 1955 and is the youngest Czech city. It is ...

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...

Career

He is a member of Dalibor Kupka's training group at ASC Dukla Praha. At the age of 20, Maslák won the 400 m bronze medal at the

2011 European Athletics U23 Championships The 8th European Athletics U23 Championships were held on 14–17 July 2011 in the Městský stadion (Ostrava), Městský stadion in Ostrava, Czech Republic. Russia topped the medal table with 20 medals in total, including 9 golds (after revision ...

and was a semi-finalist in the 200 m at the

2011 World Championships in Athletics The 13th IAAF World Championships in Athletics () was an international athletics competition that was held in Daegu, South Korea. It started on 27 August 2011 and finished on 4 September 2011. The United States topped the medal standings in the ...

. The next year, he finished fifth in the final of the 400 m at the

2012 IAAF World Indoor Championships The 2012 IAAF World Indoor Championships in Athletics was the 14th edition of the global-level indoor track and field competition and was held between March 9–11, 2012 at the Ataköy Athletics Arena in Istanbul, Turkey. It was the first of fo ...

. In May 2012, Maslák set the Czech record in 400 m. His time of 45.31 cut almost half a second off the time reached by Karel Kolář at the same venue — Rošický Stadium — in 1978.Czech and Turkish records, European leads for Stambolova, Harrer, Gollnow and Pavey

European Athletics The European Athletic Association (EAA, more commonly known as European Athletics) is the governing body for Sport of athletics, athletics in Europe. It is one of the six Area Associations of the world's athletics governing body World Athletics. E ...

. Retrieved on 2012-05-21. In June 2012, he further improved the record by clocking 45.17 in

Turin Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...

. At the 2012 European Championships, Maslák won 400 m gold medal in a time of 45.24. At

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, Maslák competed in the 200 and 400 m events. In the

, he advanced from heats by setting a new national record and personal best of 44.91 but did not manage to repeat the feat in semi-finals and finished fifth in his run. In the

, Maslák finished fourth in Heat 5 in a time of 20.67 and did not progress further. In his last race of the 2012 season, Maslák set a national record of 20.59 in 200 metres dash. At 2013 European Indoor Championships in

Gothenburg Gothenburg ( ; ) is the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, second-largest city in Sweden, after the capital Stockholm, and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated by the Kattegat on the west coast of Sweden, it is the gub ...

, Pavel Maslák won a gold medal in

distance. In final, he slashed almost half a second from his personal best, improving it to 45.66. As a part of the Czech

4 × 400 metres relay The 4 × 400 metres relay or long relay is an athletics track and field, track event in which teams consist of four runners who each complete 400 metres or one lap, totaling 1600 meters. It is traditionally the final event of ...

team, he added a bronze medal. At the 2013 World Championships, he achieved his best outdoor World Championship finish of 5th. He won his first indoor world title in

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

During the 2016 season Maslák won gold in the 400 meters at the

IAAF World Indoor Championships The World Athletics Indoor Championships are a biennial indoor track and field competition served as the global championship for that version of the sport. Organised by the World Athletics, the competition was inaugurated as the ''World Indoor G ...

, defending his world title, and came second at the

European Athletics Championships The European Athletics Championships is a biennial (from 2010) athletics event organised by the European Athletic Association and is recognised as the elite continental outdoor athletics championships for Europe. Editions First held, for me ...

. At the

2018 IAAF World Indoor Championships The 17th IAAF World Indoor Championships was held from 1 to 4 March 2018 in Birmingham, United Kingdom. This was the city's second hosting of the event as it previously did so in 2003 IAAF World Indoor Championships, 2003. Bidding process Birmin ...

he successfully defended his 400-meter title a second time with a time of 45.47 seconds.

Personal bests

; Outdoor * 100 m 10.30 (9 June 2017, Třinec, Czech Republic) * 200 m 20.46 NR (9 June 2017, Třinec, Czech Republic) * 400 m 44.79 NR (11 May 2014, Doha, Qatar) * 500 m 1:00:35 (03 Aug 2013, Cheb, Czech Republic) ; Indoor * 60 m 6.65 (15 Feb 2014, Praha (Stromovka), Czech Republic * 200 m 20.52 (15 February 2014, Praha (Stromovka), Czech Republic) * 400 m 45.24 NR (8 March 2014, Sopot, Poland)Pavel Maslák a
IAAF.org
/ref> * 500 m 1:00.36 (25 Feb 2014, Praha (O2 Arena), Czech Republic

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Maslak, Pavel 1991 births Living people Czech male sprinters Olympic athletes for the Czech Republic Athletes (track and field) at the 2012 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2016 Summer Olympics European Athletics Championships medalists Sportspeople from Havířov Athletes from the Moravian-Silesian Region World Athletics Championships athletes for the Czech Republic European Athletics Rising Star of the Year winners World Athletics Indoor Championships winners Czech Athletics Championships winners Athletes (track and field) at the 2020 Summer Olympics 21st-century Czech sportsmen