Zuzana Hejnová

Zuzana Hejnová

Zuzana Hejnová after her win at the 2013 World Championships in Athletics
Personal information
Born	(1986-12-19) 19 December 1986 (age 34) Liberec, Czechoslovakia
Height	1.70 m (5 ft 7 in)
Weight	63 kg (139 lb)
Sport
Country	Czech Republic
Sport	Athletics
Event(s)	100 m hurdles, 400 m, 400 m hurdles
Achievements and titles
World finals	7th at the 2011 World Championships in Athletics
Regional finals	4th at the 2010 and 2012 European Athletics Championships
Olympic finals	3rd at the 2012 and 7th at the 2008 Summer Olympics
Personal best(s)	400 m: 51.90 100 m hurdles: 13.36 400 m hurdles: 52.83, NR
hide Medal record Olympic Games 2012 London 400 m hurdles World Championships 2013 Moscow 400 m hurdles 2015 Beijing 400 m hurdles World Indoors Championships 2010 Doha 4x400 m relay European Championships 2012 Helsinki 4x400m relay European Indoors Championships 2017 Belgrade 400 m 2013 Gothenburg 4x400m relay World Youth Championships 2003 Sherbrooke 400 m hurdles World Junior Championships 2004 Grosseto 400 m hurdles

Zuzana Hejnová (Czech pronunciation: [ˈzuzana ˈɦɛjnovaː]; born 19 December 1986) is a Czech athlete. She competes in the 100 metres, the 100 metres hurdles, the 400 metres and the 400 metres hurdles, and also the heptathlon. She is a two-time World Champion in the 400 metres hurdles, winning in 2013 and 2015.

Her sister, Michaela, is also an Olympic athlete.^[1]

Junior[]

In 2003, Hejnová competed at the 2003 World Youth Championships in Athletics at Sherbrooke, Canada and won the gold medal in the 400-metre hurdles with a time of 57.54. A year later, she returned at Grosseto, Italy at the 2004 World Junior Championships. This time she won the silver with a time of 57.44 in the 400 m hurdles, defeated by the Russian, Ekaterina Kostetskaya, who won gold by a large margin at 55.55 seconds.

Her current personal bests are 14.11 in the 100m achieved at Ostrava on 3 September 2005; 13.77 in the 100 metres hurdles at Stará Boleslav on 13 June 2003; 53.04 in the 400 m at Kladno on 28 June 2008; and 54.90 in the 400 m hurdles recorded at Monaco on 28 July 2009.

Career[]

2008[]

Hejnová in 2008

In early March 2008 Hejnová competed in the 400 metres at the 2008 IAAF World Indoor Championships and reached the semi finals but did not qualify to reach the final. She did however, reach the final with the Czech relay team in the 4 × 400 metres relay in a team which included her, Zuzana Bergrová, Denisa Ščerbová, and Jitka Bartoničková. They finished 4th, with a time of 3:34.53, but were over 5 seconds slower than the Americans who took bronze with a time of 3:29.30.

On 21 June 2008, she competed for the Czech Republic at the 2008 European Cup in Athletics.

Hejnová competed in the 400 metres hurdles at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. She qualified for the second round with the thirteenth fastest overall time of 55.91 seconds and for the final with 55.17. In the final she finished seventh with 54.97, only one hundredth behind her personal best at the time.

2011[]

She won the 400 metres hurdles at the European Team Championships with a new national record of 53.87 seconds.^[2] On 8 July 2011 she improved her national record to 53.29 seconds.^[3]

2012[]

Hejnová won the first round of the Women's 400 m Hurdles at the 2012 Summer Olympics. On 8 August 2012 Hejnová won the bronze medal in the finals.

2013[]

Hejnová won Diamond League races over 400 m Hurdles in Shanghai (53.79), Eugene (53.70), Oslo (53.60), Paris (53.23 NR), and London (53.07 NR). Hejnová also won races in Des Moines (54.41), Prague (54.55) and Ostrava (53.32). Hejnová secured maximum points for Czech Republic in the European Team Championships First League in Dublin by winning the 400 m in 51.90 seconds. On 15 August 2013 in Moscow, she became World Champion over 400 m Hurdles with a new Czech record (52.83 NR).

2016[]

Despite winning her semi-final,^[4] Hejnová came fourth in the 400-metre hurdles at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.^[5]

She threatened to sue Czech Post for 1 million koruna over the use of her likeness on a stamp celebrating the 2016 Olympic Games.^[6] The Court of Appeal found in favour of Hejnová, leading to Czech Post paying her an undisclosed settlement.^[7]

International competitions[]

Year	Competition	Venue	Position	Event	Notes
Representing the  Czech Republic
2002	World Junior Championships	Kingston, Jamaica	5th	400 m hurdles	58.42
2003	World Youth Championships	Sherbrooke, Canada	1st	400 m hurdles	57.54
	European Junior Championships	Tampere, Finland	3rd	400 m hurdles	58.30
			8th	4 × 400 m relay	3:44.55
2004	World Junior Championships	Grosseto, Italy	2nd	400 m hurdles	57.44
			9th (h)	4 × 400 m relay	3:37.89
2005	European Junior Championships	Kaunas, Lithuania	1st	400 m hurdles	55.89
			–	4 × 400 m relay	DNF
	World Championships	Helsinki, Finland	21st (sf)	400 m hurdles	57.29
2006	European Championships	Gothenburg, Sweden	13th (sf)	400 m hurdles	56.39
			10th (h)	4 × 400 m relay	3:34.47
2007	European U23 Championships	Debrecen, Hungary	3rd	400 m hurdles	55.93
	World Championships	Osaka, Japan	13th (sf)	400 m hurdles	55.04
2008	World Indoor Championships	Valencia, Spain	7th	400 m	53.16
			4th	4 × 400 m relay	3:34.53
	Olympic Games	Beijing, China	7th	400 m hurdles	54.97
2009	World Championships	Berlin, Germany	11th (sf)	400 m hurdles	54.99
2010	World Indoor Championships	Doha, Qatar	12th (h)	400 m	53.56
			3rd	4 × 400 m relay	3:30.05
	European Championships	Barcelona, Spain	4th	400 m hurdles	54.30
2012	European Championships	Helsinki, Finland	4th	400 m hurdles	54.49
			3rd	4 × 400 m relay	3:26.02
	Olympic Games	London, United Kingdom	3rd	400 m hurdles	53.38
			7th	4 × 400 m relay	3:27.77
2013	European Indoor Championships	Gothenburg, Sweden	4th	400 m	52.12
			3rd	4 × 400 m relay	3:28.49
	World Championships	Moscow, Russia	1st	400 m hurdles	52.83
			11th (h)	4 × 400 m relay	3:30.48
2015	European Indoor Championships	Prague, Czech Republic	15th (h)	800 m	2:05.34
			4th	4 × 400 m relay	3:32.08
	World Championships	Beijing, China	1st	400 m hurdles	53.50
2016	Olympic Games	Rio de Janeiro, Brazil	4th	400 m hurdles	53.92
2017	European Indoor Championships	Belgrade, Serbia	2nd	400 m	52.42
	World Championships	London, United Kingdom	4th	400 m hurdles	54.20
2018	European Championships	Berlin, Germany	13th (sf)	400 m hurdles	56.03
2019	World Championships	Doha, Qatar	5th	400 m hurdles	54.23

References[]

External links[]

• Zuzana Hejnová at World Athletics

Awards
Preceded by Mariya Savinova	Women's European Athlete of the Year 2013	Succeeded by Dafne Schippers
Preceded by Barbora Špotáková Petra Kvitová	Czech Athlete of the Year 2013 2015	Succeeded by Petra Kvitová Lukáš Krpálek