Close call in Ostrava

Will Pallitsch break the age-old mile record this year?

Raphael Pallitsch(Bild: Jaroslav Svoboda/ jsphoto.cz)

Ostrava is and remains good ground for Raphael Pallitsch! The 35-year-old finished fifth at the Czech Indoor Gala in 3:55.94 in a highly competitive mile race. In doing so, he achieved the second-best time ever by an Austrian at the sold-out indoor meeting over the mile, which is part of the World Athletics Indoor Tour Gold. He missed Michael Buchleitner's almost 31-year-old record (3:54.28) by 1.66 seconds.

However, if the race had gone better, Pallitsch, who sensationally finished sixth in the 1500 m at last year's European Championships, could well have broken this age-old record. That would have been his third record run in Ostrava! "If I hadn't run at the front myself in between, I could even have won the race and set a new ÖLV record," said the Burgenland native, who was "very satisfied" with his season opener. The race was won by Isaac Nader (POR) in 3:54.17 ahead of Elliot Giles (GBR/3:54.62).

Pallitsch ahead of Nemeth
Finally, Pallitsch is now also ahead of Robert Nemeth in second place in the "eternal" ÖLV indoor best list over the mile. Nemeth had improved the Austrian record of 3:59.79 to 3:57.4 in his US races in 1982. Nemeth, Buchleitner and Pallitsch are the only Austrians to have run the mile indoors in under 4:00 minutes.

In the combined outdoor and indoor record, however, there are only six Austrians who have broken the magical barrier of four minutes for many athletes. Nemeth is still number one in Austria with his outdoor record from Rieti 1981 (3:52.42). But Pallitsch has what it takes to break both the indoor and outdoor record ...

First Metz, then Liévin
He may even have the chance to break the record again this indoor season. First he will compete in the 1500 m in Metz in three days, but he hopes to get a starting place at the super meeting in Liévin. At least he set a first exclamation mark in 2025 in Ostrava.

Leni Lindner unlucky
Leni Lindner had previously finished sixth in her preliminary heat in the 60 m in 7.41 seconds. She was unlucky as she missed out on the final by just two hundredths of a second. "Leni's race wasn't bad," said coach Philipp Unfried. The Lower Austrian was only faster than in Ostrava this year, coming third in Aarhus in 7.40 seconds.