| Medal record | ||
|---|---|---|
| Men'sathletics | ||
Representing Czech Republic | ||
| European Indoor Championships | ||
 | 2015 Prague | Long jump |
Radek Juška (Czech pronunciation:[ˈradɛkˈjuʃka]; born 8 March 1993, inStarovičky) is aCzechtrack and field athlete who competes in thelong jump. He was a silver medallist at theEuropean Athletics Indoor Championships in 2015, at which he set a best of 8.10 m (26 ft6+3⁄4 in).
Raised inStarovičky, in the south-easternBřeclav District,[1] Juška made his international debut for the Czech Republic at the2012 World Junior Championships in Athletics. Despite having set a personal best of 7.71 m (25 ft3+1⁄2 in) in June, he was far off this form at the competition and ranked 24th in qualifying with a best jump of 7.11 m (23 ft3+3⁄4 in).[2]
In 2013, he won the Czech under-23 titles in both the long jump andtriple jump. He followed this up with his first senior national title at the 2014 Czech Indoor Championships. Outdoors, he was the long jump winner at theJosef Odložil Memorial in Prague (the country's foremost track meet) with a personal best mark of 7.94 m (26 ft1⁄2 in). He had his senior international debut that year at the2014 European Team Championships, clearing 7.76 m (25 ft5+1⁄2 in) to take eighth place overall.[3] He gained a wild card selection for the2014 European Athletics Championships, but a torn abdominal muscle suffered at the national championships that year meant he was not fit to compete.[1]
Under the tutelage ofJosef Karas (a former decathlete), Juška was encouraged to focus on both hisathletics and his studies at theUniversity of Economics, Prague.[1] He returned to fitness in time for the beginning of the 2015 season and claimed the Czech indoor title for a second time.[4] He was selected for the home team for the2015 European Athletics Indoor Championships inPrague. Despite entering as an outsider, having a sub-eight-metre personal best, he managed to qualify for the final of the event – the last of the eight qualifiers.[5] In the final he was spurred on by the home crowd and improved his personal best to 8.10 m (26 ft6+3⁄4 in) to claim the silver medal behindMichel Tornéus.[6] This also raised him to seventh in the global seasonal rankings.[7] He was one of three Czech athletes to win medals on the first day of finals at the championships, alongsideLadislav Prášil andEliška Klučinová.[8]
