Spotakova, Sebrle set to enthrall home fans at European Athletics Premium meeting in Prague

All eyes will be on Javelin world record holder Barbora Spotakova when the Olympic and world champion sets out at the 16th Josef Odlozil Memorial, a European Athletics Premium meeting, in her home town Prague on Monday.

The meet will be her third outing of the year so far and on both previous occasions she has achieved excellent winning marks of 65.96 and 66.31.

The organisers have offered Spotakova a $20,000 world record bonus, and given her form so far the packed audience at Juliska Stadium might be treated to a new record.

It remains to be seen whether Spotakova, who trains at this stadium, will go for a world record or not, but she will certainly try to better her own meet record 68.81 set last year.

Another Czech star the local fans will be rooting for is Decathlon world record holder Roman Sebrle, scheduled to compete in the Long Jump and Shot Put.

Czech European indoor hurdles medallist Petr Svoboda will face a very strong field in the men's 110 metres.

Lucie Skrobakova, meanwhile, will run against British Olympic finalist Sarah Claxton and former US champion Danielle Carruthers at the 100m hurdles.

Olympic 400m hurdles finalist Zuzana Hejnova will compete with Russian Beijing sixth-placer Yekaterina Bikert and US world leader Lashinda Demus (54.17).  

In the women's Discus Throw, Olympic medalist Olena Antonova of Ukraine will vie with local favourite Vera Cechlova and Romanian Nicoleta Grasu.

Sprinter Laverne Jones of US Virgin Islands, who improved her national records in Hengeloon Monday (11.13 and 22.46), has a realistic chance of improving the current meet record at 200m (22.74) set by Stephanie Durst in 2007.

In the 800m, world indoor medalist Tetyana Petlyuk of Ukraine will once again start as favourite, especially after having already clocked under two minutes this year. She will face strong opposition in the form of Briton Jenny Meadows and Olympic fourth placer Russian Svetlana Kluyka.

In the men's 400m hurdles, European champion Periklis Iakovakis will vie with former Olympic medallist and Jamaican veteran Danny McFarlane.

Kenyan Collins Kosgei, meet record holder with 8:14.32 in 2007, will start as the favourite for the 3000m steeplechase, while Jamaican Steve Mullings will be the top bet in both the 100m and 200m.

The 1500m (in memory of Josef Odlozil an Olympic medallist in 1964) will be a tight contest between Ethiopian Bikila Demma (3:35.27), Frenchman Abdeslam Kennouche (3:32.46)and Kenyan Cornelius Ndiwa (3:37.35).

In the field events, world leader Krisztian Pars of Hungary, former Olympic winner Szymon Ziolkowski of Poland, Slovak world medallist Libor Charfreitag and fresh national record breakers of Tajikistan Dilshod Nazarov and Latvia's Igor Sokolovs form an extremely competitive field in the men's Hammer.

The men´s Pole Vault will see French 2007 world medallst Romain Mesnil, who achieved a European leading 5.81 on Monday, have to contend with strong opposition from Germans Fabian Schulze and Tim Lobinger along with best home jumper and Olympic finalist Jan Kudlicka.

Top names in the Shot Put are European champion Ralf Bartelts and French European indoor medalist Yves Niare.