Monika Pyrek (POL) (© Getty Images)
The 83rd edition of the Polish national championships, which took place in Poznan on Saturday and Sunday (30 June - 1 July) were, as expected, highlighted by field event competitions.
The best results on the weekend were achieved in female jumping events, as Malgorzata Trybanska won the Long Jump with a personal best of 6.80m and Monika Pyrek once again proved the best vaulter with 4.60m.
Combination jumper
Trybanska, who had already set a national record in Triple Jump earlier this year, this time was at her best in the other horizontal jumping event. After a foul in the first attempt, she reached 6.80 on her second jump, beating her old best by 9 cm and achieving the World Championship ‘A’ qualifier for the first time this season. She followed it with one more foul and retired from the competition after round three. Meanwhile, Teresa Dobija had a more consistent series, capped by 6.52 in round four, which gave her the silver.
In the women's Triple Jump competition, taking place on day two, Trybanska was once again the clear favourite. This time, however, she had to settle for third place with a best of 13.59. Perhaps the biggest upset of the entire championships was caused by the 22-year old Joanna Skibinska, who set a big new personal best of 14.04 on round two to win her first national title.
Pyrek peerless, as Rogowska no heights again
Women's pole vault has in recent years provided some of the top highlights in Polish domestic events. On this occasion, it was not the most competitive of events as a first time clearance at her opening height of 4.40 was enough to give Monika Pyrek her eighth national title. She confirmed her good form with a first time clearance at 4.60 with plenty to spare. She went on to have close attempts at 4.70, but this time was not able to clear that height.
None of the other vaulters went higher than 4.30, with Paulina Debska, who recently set a personal best of 4.50, winning silver ahead of Roza Kasprzak and Joanna Piwowarska. National record holder Anna Rogowska once again had major technical problems, failing to clear her opening height of 4.30. This competition was the second in a row in which Rogowska no-heighted, and she is yet to achieve the World Championship qualifying height this year.
Men's jumping events, also produced some good results. Przemyslaw Czerwinski was the winner in the Pole Vault with 5.70m. Marcin Starzak confirmed his recent good form in the Long Jump with three 8m jumps, the best of which was measured at 8.02. In the High Jump, Aleksander Walerianczyk was the clear winner with a big clearance at 2.28 followed by three unsuccessful attempts at 2.32, one of them a very near miss.
10th title for Ziolkowski, 11th for Skolimowska, 15th for Zabawska!
The finals in the throws mostly went to form, with favourites confirming their dominance, although none of them managed to improve on their season's bests.
Perhaps the most characteristic features of the throwing events at these championships was long winning series. On Saturday, Szymon Ziolkowski won his tenth national Hammer Throw title, reaching 76.80 on his best attempt and beating the runner-up by over 10 meters.
Remarkably, Ziolkowski's feat of 10 wins was bettered by Kamila Skolimowska, who at the age of just 24 won her eleventh senior national title in the women's Hammer Throw with 71.90. In second place, former European junior champion Katarzyna Kita set a personal best, coming very close to the World Championship ‘A’ standard with 69.27.
But even the winning records of the hammer throwers pale next to Krystyna Zabawska, whose Shot Put win in Poznan was the fifteenth of her career. This time, her winning mark was 17.57.
Other favourites winning in throwing events were Tomasz Majewski in the men's Shot Put with 20.07m, Piotr Malachowski with 63.16m in the men's Discus Throw and Wioletta Potepa with 60.14m in the same event among the women. One exception from the rule was women's Javelin Throw, where the national record holder Barbara Madejczyk, despite leading for four rounds, had to settle for second place as the former World Junior medallist Urszula Jasinska reached 59.20 with her penultimate throw.
Plawgo impressive
The sprinting events also featured some exciting races as well as a few top-level results. Arguably the most impressive performance was by Marek Plawgo in the men's 400m Hurdles. Running away from his rivals right from the start, Plawgo was impressive in maintaining his rhythm until the finish, crossing the line in 48.90, two and a half seconds ahead of his nearest rival.
More competitive was the men's 400m flat final, won by Daniel Dabrowski, whose strong running in the home straight carried him to a new personal best time of 45.33. Two more men broke 46 seconds, as the defending champion Marcin Marciniszyn finished in second in 45.77 and the 21-year old Kacper Kozlowski won bronze in 45.90. The women's one-lap event was won by Zuzanna Radecka-Pakaszewska in a time of 52.14, just ahead of the 400m Hurdles specialist Agnieszka Karpiesiuk and Grazyna Prokopek.
Jedrusinski – sprint double
The star of the short sprints was Marcin Jedrusinski. On Day One, he led from start to finish of the 100m final, taking the title in 10.37, and on Sunday he was the clear winner of the 200 meters in 20.84. The women's short sprints were won by the favourites, Daria Onysko-Korczynska in the 100m and Monika Bejnar in the half-lap race.
The best result of the distance event finals was achieved by recent European Cup winner Katarzyna Kowalska, whose solo performance in the Steeplechase in the absence of the national record holder Wioletta Janowska ended in a time of 9:47.11. Tomasz Szymkowiak was the men's winner in the same event in 8:27.97, ahead of Olympic finalist Radoslaw Poplawski.
Perhaps the most eagerly awaited middle-distance final was the men's 800 metres, which pitched former World Championship medallist Pawel Czapiewski, coming back to top form, against the youngster Marcin Lewandowski, fourth in last year's World Junior Championships final and having a best of 1:45.52 set this year. Lewandowski led for most of the slow-paced race, but once Czapiewski shifted gears 300 metres from the finish, his younger rival was unable to respond. In the end, the old champion won in a time of 1:48.97, a quarter of a second ahead of Lewandowski.
In the women's race over the same distance, Lidia Chojecka, European Indoor 1500m and 3000m champion was no match on this occasion for Ewelina Setowska-Dryk, who won in 2:03.62, and she was also pipped on the line for second by Joanna Kus.
Pawel Jackowski for the IAAF
