Jan KudliÄka
Jan Kudlička ( born April 29, 1988 in Opava ) is a Czech pole vaulter.
Sports career
Kudlička gained his first international experience when he finished sixth in Marrakech at the Youth World Championships 2005. At the Junior World Championships in 2006 in Beijing, he finished fifth. On 25 August 2007, he improved the Czech junior record in the high jump of 5.43 m to 5.61 m. This performance increase, however, came too late for a nomination for the World Championships in Osaka, which had begun on the same day.
In the following season Kudlička increased its best performance to 5.70 m and participated in the Olympic Games in Beijing, where he finished in tenth place. In the U23 European Championships 2009 in Kaunas he was eighth, while he already failed at the World Championships in Berlin in qualifying. At the European Championships 2010 in Barcelona, he finished with 5.60 m in tenth place.
In the following years Kudlička reached at international championships repeatedly rankings below the top ten, but without being able to advance into the medal ranks: He finished ninth at the 2011 World Championships, sixth at the European Championships in 2012, eighth at the Olympic Games in 2012, fifth in the European Indoor Championships in 2013 and seventh at the World Championships in 2013. In the 2013 season he celebrated some notable successes in athletics meeting as his second-place finishes at the Meeting Areva and the ISTAF Berlin, and his third place at the Ostrava Golden Spike.
At the World Indoor Championships in 2014 in the Polish Sopot Kudlička won with a personal best of 5.80 meters behind the Greek Konstantinos Filippidis and the German Malte Mohr the bronze medal.
Kudlička is a five-time Czech champion in the pole vault (2008, 2010-2013 ).