Gabriela Gajanová

Gabriela Gajanová (born 12 October 1999) is a Slovak middle-distance runner specialising in the 800 metres. Gajanová won a bronze medal at the 2017 European U20 Championships. She won silver in the 800 metres at the 2024 European Athletics Championships in Rome, Italy. In 2023, at the World Athletics Continental Tour in Bellinzona, Gajanová ran 800 meters in 1:58.78, surpassing the qualification threshold for 2024 Summer Olympics.

Early life
Gajanová was born on 12 October 1999 in the town of Liptovský Mikuláš. She started running when she was eleven years old, having previously played soccer. Later she started both athletics and cross-country running. Her first running competition she ran in the neighboring village Liptovská Ondrašová and won it despite little experience.

Junior career
Gabriela Gajanová gained her first international experience in 2015, when she was eliminated in the first round of the 400-meter run at the 2015 European Youth Summer Olympic Festival in Tbilisi with a time of 57.91, and was also unable to qualify for the final with the Slovakian 4 x 100 meter relay team with a time of 49.28. The following year, she won the bronze medal in the 800 meters at the inaugural 2016 European Athletics Youth Championships in Tbilisi at 2:09.43, as well as at the 2017 European Athletics U20 Championships in Grosseto at 2:07.15. She also finished eighth with the Slovakian 4 x 400 m relay in 3:44.46 minutes. In 2018, she finished fourth at the U20 World Championships in Tampere in 2:01.90, and also qualified for the European Championships in Berlin, where she was eliminated in the preliminary round with a time of 2:02.57.

Senior career
At the 2019 European Athletics U23 Championships in Gävle she finished fourth in the 800 m individual competition in 2:06.78 minutes and sixth in the relay in 3:46.26 minutes. She also took part in the World Championships in Doha for the first time and was eliminated in the preliminary round with a time of 2:04.45 minutes. In 2020, she won the P-T-S Meeting in 2:01.26 minutes, and the following year she was eliminated in the preliminary round of the 800 m at the U23 European Championships in Tallinn with a time of 2:04.50 minutes and also won the final with the Slovakian 4 x 400 meter relay team with a time of 3:45.02 minutes. She then took part in the Olympic Games in Tokyo for the first time, but did not make it past the preliminary round with a time of 2:01.41 min.

In 2023, she reached the semifinals of the 800 metres at the European Indoor Championships in Istanbul and was eliminated there with a new national record of 2:01.70 min. In June, she finished third in the 2nd league of the European Team Championships as part of the European Games in Chorzów in 1:59.92 minutes and finished second in the B run with the mixed relay over 4 x 400 meters in 3:19.84 minutes. In August, she was eliminated at the World Championships in Budapest with 2:00.39 minutes in the first round over 800 meters.

From 2019 to 2023, Gajanová became Slovak champion in the 800-meter outdoor race, as well as indoor champion over 1500 meters in 2020 and over 400 meters in 2023. In 2024, Gajanová took a somewhat surprising silver at the European Athletics Championships in Rome. After not being among the top in the trial heats but still managing to advance, she strong on the run and was close to sprinting down the pre-favourite Keely Hodgkinson. The time was 1:58.79, the second best in her career.

Personal bests
Outdoor Indoor
 * 400 metres – 54.40 (Prague 2019)
 * 600 metres – 1:26.34 (Langenthal 2024, NR)
 * 800 metres – 1:58.78 (Bellinzona 2023)
 * 1000 metres – 2:38.64 (Bern 2023, NR)
 * 1500 metres - 4:24.63 (Břeclav 2021)
 * 800 metres – 2:01.70 (Istanbul 2023, NR)
 * 1500 metres - 4:25.88 (Bratislava 2020)