Barshim and Schippers confirm for Ostrava meet

World champions Dafne Schippers and Mutaz Essa Barshim will be makingtheir debut appearances at the 57th Ostrava Golden Spike, an IAAF WorldChallenge meeting, on 13 June, organisers have announced.A strong men’s high jump clash has also been announced with Barshim, the2017 world champion and World Athlete of the Year, taking on neutralathlete Danil Lysenko, who upset the Qatari in Birmingham last month tocapture the world indoor crown.“I am very much looking forward to my first visit in Ostrava,” Barshimsaid. “It will be one of my few competitions outside of the DiamondLeague. Of course I will be going for the meet record of 2.33m and somemore!”Schippers also is heading there for the first time.“It’s great to be in Ostrava this year,” said Schippers, whosuccessfully defended her world 200m title in London last year. “It ismy first time and I always hear such positive stories about this amazingmeet. I want to experience this myself now and perform very wellthere!”Schippers will compete in her specialty in the Czech city, which later in the summer will host the IAAF Continental Cup.Last year the meeting featured a Czech Republic vs Germany match in the men’s javelin throw. The follow-up this year pits a Czech squad against a World select team. TheCzech quartet is already set with 2017 world silver and bronzemedallists Jakub Vadlejch and Petr Frydrych teaming with 2013 worldchampion Vitezslav Vesely and European finalist Jaroslav Jilek. Meanwhile, the first two confirmations on the World select squad are thetwo top German throwers, world champion Johannes Vetter and Olympicchampion Thomas Rohler.“I gladly will return to Ostrava,” said Vetter, who has already thrownbeyond 90 metres twice in 2018. “I’m looking forward to meeting ourCzech rivals, we are one big family. The 94.64m meet record by meetingdirector Jan Zelezny is a top result and tough to achieve, but alwaysone good throw could happen.”Tom Walsh, the world champion in the shot put, and Luvo Manyonga, theworld champion in the long jump, had previously been announced.