Monika Pyrek at the 2008 Polish Champs (© Marek Biczyk)
The Polish national championships, which took place in Szczecin from Friday 4 to Sunday 6 July, were the last event before the nomination of the Olympic team. For many athletes it was the last chance to obtain the A qualifying standards asked by the selectors. The only athlete using this chance to the full was world junior champion in the 110m Hurdles Artur Noga, who improved his PB from 13.59 to 13.47 in the Sunday’s final.
Nonetheless, the competition featured some interesting matchups and good performances, primarily in the sprints and throws. The best result of the meet, however, was once again achieved by Monika Pyrek, who won the pole vault with 4.70.
16th national title for Zabawska
Already on the very first final on Friday, a record was set. The 40-year-old Krystyna Zabawska, who recently qualified for the Olympic Games by putting 18.68m, only managed 17.39 this time, but that was enough to give her the 16th national title of her career, beating the record 15 wins in one event that she shared with the all-time greats Janusz Sidlo and Robert Korzeniowski.
Windy upset for Starzak
Two other field events on Friday featured performances of a much higher calibre.
In the men’s Shot Put, World Indoor medallist Tomasz Majewski triumphed with 20.50m.
The men’s Long Jump was an exciting competition, in which Marcin Starzak, still looking for the elusive Olympic qualifying distance, jumped 8.20 in the third round – exactly equal to the A standard – only to find out the tailwind was an inadmissible +2.3 metres per second (max allowed 2m/s). Krzysztof Lewandowski finished in runners-up position with 8.07, well over his PB, but was also helped by +2.3 m/s wind, while Tomasz Mateusiak won the bronze with a wind-legal 8.00m.
The favourable winds also spurred on the sprinters on the same day. In the heats of the women’s 100m, Daria Korczynska with a perfect +2.0 wind down her back, ran 11.34 – the fastest time by a Pole since 2000. In the final she went even faster – 11.29, albeit on this occasion the wind was well over the legal limit at +3.3 mps.
In the men’s dash, Dariusz Kuc was the fastest in qualifying with a wind-aided 10.24, while Marcin Jedrusinski ran a legal 10.31 in another heat. In the final, with +1.7 wind, Kuc repeated his win of two years ago with a season’s best of 10.27, followed by Marcin Nowak with 10.33 and Jedrusinski with 10.36.
Pyrek without real challenge
The expected highlight of day two was the duel between Monika Pyrek and Anna Rogowska in the Pole Vault. This time, however, this competition was somewhat disappointing from competitive point of view. Both favourites entered the competition at 4.40 and cleared it easily enough, although Rogowska needed two attempts.
At 4.50 however, things changed as only Pyrek was able to go clear. Rogowska failed once and passed her remaining attempts to 4.60, but again did not manage to go clear. With only one clearance in the competition, she thus had to settle for silver.
Meanwhile Pyrek, evidently enjoying competing in her home city, had two more first-time clearances at 4.60 and 4.70. Certain of her ninth national title, she failed three times at 4.80.
Sydney champion holds down Wlodarczyk but only just
One much closer competition on the same day was the women’s Hammer Throw. 2000 Olympic champion Kamila Skolimowska and the newcomer Anita Wlodarczyk produced identical distances of 71.71. Skolimowska prevailed once again thanks to a superior second-best throw of 70.75, and at the age of 25 won her 12th national title. She had become the youngest-ever national champion in any event when she won as a 13-year-old in 1996.
Another close contest was the women Javelin Throw, where in a battle of two women with Olympic ‘A’ qualifiers, Urszula Piwnicka beat Barbara Madejczyk 59.86 to 59.51.
Close one lap battles
Another highly expected feature of Saturday’s competition were the one-lap races, both with and without hurdles.
In the flat races, close battles between contenders for the relay team were in store, and indeed, the finals generated some excitement. Among the men, Piotr Klimczak won in 45.74, with Rafal Wieruszewski (45.93) and Piotr Kedzia (45.94) also dipping under 46 seconds. On the women’s side, Monika Bejnar in below-par form for a major part of the season regained condition to win in 52.12, just ahead of Grazyna Prokopek-Janacek (52.18), with Jolanta Wojcik third in a new PB of 52.52.
In the absence of Anna Jesien, who chose to contend the 200 metres, the winner in the women’s 400m Hurdles was never in doubt, but the real interest lay in whether Malgorzata Pskit could run under 55.60 to qualify for Beijing. She failed in her quest despite producing two valiant efforts – 56.22 in the heats and 56.36 in the final.
World medallist Marek Plawgo was a runaway winner in the men’s 400m Hurdles final in 49.26.
Ziolkowski takes 11th win
The third day started with another continuation of a long series, as 2000 Olympic and 2001 World champion Szymon Ziolkowski won his 11th national title in the men’s Hammer Throw, this time with a distance of 77.66m.
Two good competitions followed in the throwing ring, as first Piotr Malachowski produced a throw of 65.29m in the men’s Discus, and then Joanna Wisniewska beat all her opponents in the women’s Discus Throw with 61.26.
Noga gets the Beijing ‘A’ standard
More excitement, however, was generated on the track with the young Artur Noga, who has threatened to run under the ‘A’ standards over the 110m Hurdles for a few weeks, continued his Olympic quest.
In the qualifying round, he produced another close effort with 13.61, while Mariusz Kubaszewski took the other heat in 13.66. A fluent run in the final an hour later, however, finally proved to be sufficient, as Noga ran 13.47 with marginal tailwind of 0.2mps. to finish over 0.4s ahead of Kubaszewski.
The women’s 100m Hurdles final was won in 12.91 by Aurelia Trywianska-Kollasch, with Joanna Kocielnik in second place setting a big PB of 13.11.
In the men’s 1500 metres final, Pawel Czapiewski, who had earlier taken the 800m title nearly pulled off a double, but in the end had to be content with second place, just 0.02s behind Marcin Lewandowski, who will join Czapiewski in Beijing in the two-lap race.
In the women’s race, European Super League winner Sylwia Ejdys successfully defended her title in a slow race, remarkably recording the exact same time as in 2007 – 4:15.56. Lidia Chojecka, tired from her effort in Madrid the previous night and still without an Olympic qualifier, could only place a distant fifth.
Two more athletes made serious tries at Beijing qualifying on Sunday, but did not succeed. Former European Junior Steeplechase champion Marcin Chabowski achieved a new PB, but his time of 8:25.90 was still too slow by over a second. Neither was it good enough for a win, as he was outrun by Tomasz Szymkowiak, already qualified for the Olympic Games. Pole vaulter Przemyslaw Czerwinski, after ensuring the win with 5.60, had three goes at 5.70, but once again could not clear the height.
In the women’s 200 metres, World Junior medallist Ewelina Klocek was the winner with 23.38 after Daria Korczynska, who set another PB in the heats with 23.17, withdrew from the final. Anna Jesien finished fifth in 24.18, after setting a PB with 24.05 in the Saturday’s heats.
Pawel Jackowski for the IAAF
