World champion Isaac Nader and European indoor title holder Lieke Klaver are among the top European athletes already confirmed to the strong field for the 2026 Czech Indoor Gala, a World Athletics Indoor Tour Gold event set in Ostrava, on February 3.
Nader of Portugal returns to the track following his surprise 1500m triumph at the 2025 World Athletics Championships in Tokyo. The 26-year-old European silver medalist in the mixed cross country relay and bronze medalist indoors over 1500m last year, will compete in the 3000m — his first major test at the distance. He will compete at the Czech Indoor Gala for the third consecutive time, having broken the meeting record in each of his previous two appearances in the 1500m and the mile.
Nader has an indoor 3000m personal best of 7:53.40 set in Madrid in 2022, the last time he covered that distance on the short track. Nader is set to go against Italy’s Pietro Arese, Belgium’s John Heymans, and Czech runner Filip Sasinek across the 15-lap race.
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Arese and Sasinek both contested the 1500m in Tokyo, with Arese reaching the semifinal and Sasinek falling short in the heats. Heymans, more familiar with longer races, finished eighth in the 3000m at the 2024 indoor worlds in Glasgow and ran the 5000m in Tokyo.
Multiple European medalist Lieke Klaver, the 2025 European indoor champion from Apeldoorn, will line up in the women’s 400m at the 2026 Czech Indoor Gala. The Dutch star has consistently been a key figure on the Netherlands’ 4x400m relay teams, helping the nation to secure Olympic gold in the mixed relay and silver in the women’s 4x400m in Paris 2024. She will be aiming for her fourth victory at this meeting.
“I’m really looking forward to racing in Ostrava again this year. I hope I can win for the fourth year in a row,” she said.
Klaver, who has dipped under 50 seconds six times outdoors, will look to replicate that pace indoors as she targets her personal best of 50.10 secs. The standout sprinter and world indoor silver medalist in the 400m, also holds four European indoor titles — including two in the 4x400m and two individual 400m crowns.
The 27-year-old, who last competed at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, will face former Polish European champion Justyna Święty-Ersetic, Slovakia’s Emma Zapletalová, the world 400m hurdles bronze medalist, and Lurdes Gloria Manuel of Portugal, who placed fourth at the European Championships.
Zapletalová set a Slovak record of 50.76 seconds over 400m last year and took bronze in the hurdles at Tokyo 2025.
