Reigning world javelin champion and world record-holder Barbora Spotakova will miss the entirety of the 2018 season as she is expecting her second child.
Spotakova regained the world javelin title in London last August a decade after claiming the gold medal for the first time in Osaka and the Czech finished the season ranked second on the world list behind Croatia’s Sara Kolak with 68.26m, her longest throw since the 2012 Olympic Games.
Spotakova missed the 2013 season to give birth to her son Janek before returning to competition the following season, winning gold at the European Championships in Zurich just fifteen months after giving birth. Spotakova is aiming to resume training in the autumn ahead of the 2019 season but her main target is the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo.
After missing out on a place in the final in Athens 2004, Spotakova has claimed medals at the last three Olympic Games (gold in 2008 and 2012 and bronze in 2016) and a fourth successive medal would match the feat achieved by her former coach Jan Zelezny between Seoul 1988 and Sydney 2000.