Kipketer
Czapiewski the main attraction at Warsaw Janusz Kusocinski Memorial
Janusz Rozum for the
IAAF
13 June
2002 - This year’s 48th memorial of Janusz Kusocinski will be dominated by
Polish athletes trying to earn their ticket for the upcoming European Cup, as this is
their last chance to qualify, according to the statement of the Polish Federation.
The Polish men are the European Cup title holders, despite being promoted just the previous year. But now the rivalry will be much tougher as the two best European teams will advance to the World Cup.
Janusz Kusocinski was a legendary Polish long-distance runner who won Olympic gold medal in Los Angeles, 1932. His memorial is being held since 1954 and brought 10 world records (2 of which by Irena Szewinska) to the history of athletics.
The absolute highlight should be the performances of the Polish European Indoor champions. The spectators will pay most attention to the men’s 800 m race, with Edmonton bronze medallist – Pawel Czapiewski trying to achieve his first win of the season. An infection caused him to loose in Bydgoszcz to Werner Botha (RSA). He will have the opportunity of revenge in Warsaw. Unknown is the form of the world record holder – Wilson Kipketer, who persuaded by his Polish coach – Slawomir Nowak – decided to run. Wilfred Bungei, 2nd from Edmonton, will also compete; his beginning of this season was rather poor, as he was only 7th in Torino. The pacemaker of this race will be Robert Chirchir (1:43.33 ’98).
European Indoor 200m champion Marcin Urbas is back to the form he showed in1999 and in the battle with the junior world vice-champion – Marcin Jedrusinski – he is willing to bring it closer to the barrier of 20 seconds again.
The form of the fastest 4x400 relay in Europe, Piotr Haczek, Piotr Rysiukiewicz, Piotr Dlugosielski will be tested by Kenyan Sambu Ezra (44.47 ’01). Edmonton finalist Robert Mackowiak will not compete due to an Achilles injury. Head coach Jerzy Skucha believes Mackowiak will be in good shape for Annecy.
The biggest favourites of the memorial run (3000 m) will be Joseph Kosgei from Kenia who won last year in Warsaw and Leszek Zblewski, the winner from two years ago. At this distance Janusz Kusocinski set the world record of 8:18.8 in 1932.
Highly talented European Indoor champion – Marek Plawgo – almost broke the national record in Ostrava, running 400 m hurdles with this year’s third result. He also had improved his PB at 200 metres and at 300 metres he is the world leader. The European champion from Budapest Pawel Januszewski and Hungarian Dusan Kovacs will be there too.
Edmonton World Champion in the high jump Martin Buss will be making his season’s debut in Warsaw after skipping the indoor season. The others with personal bests of at least 2.30 are: Grzegorz Sposob, Wilbert Pennings (NED) and Aleksey Lyolin (BLR).
Five Polish 19-metre shot putters will fight with two 20-metres from Belarus, Dmitriy Goncharuk and Pavel Lyzhin.
The Olympic and World champion in the hammer throw Szymon Ziolkowski after finishing his co-operation with coach Czeslaw Cybulski trains by himself. In all his six starts he hasn’t won nor did he throw 80 metres, but fortunately his form is improving. Trying to beat ‘the master’ will be his local rival Maciej Palyszko and three Slovaks: Libor Charfretaig, Pavel Sedlacek and Miloslav Konopka, all throwing 78-79 metres.
In the women’s 800 metre race we will see Olympic finalist Anna Jakubczak, who had a maternity break for the last year. She will be competing with Stella Jongmans (NED) and the winner from the Festival of Relays in Bydgoszcz – Oksana Zbrozhek from Russia.
1500 metre runner Lidia Chojecka asked for a strong pacemaker in order to aim for 4 minutes at the finish. She returned to training after 2 years off and is looking to be successful again. She will run with Justyna Bak, who for the first time lost a 3000 steeplechase run, to Alesya Turova in Ostrava, additionally losing her world record.
The only athlete who jumped over 2 metres this year – Irina Michalchenko will face her compatriot Vita Palamar, Svetlana Zalevskaya from Kazakhstan and Polish junior hope for a medal in Kingston – Anna Ksok.
In the pole vault, the bronze medallist from Edmonton and Vienna, Monika Pyrek, will meet Zsuzsanna Szabo who had already broken the Hungarian record at this memorial.
In triple jump the first ever World Championships medallist from Cameroon, Francoise Mbango, and four athletes with personal bests over 14 metres should make this event very interesting.
Women hammer throw world leader, 19-year-old Kamila Skolimowska, who threw over 70 metres four times in Bydgoszcz, has set twice the Polish record for the discipline. At the memorial in 1999 she broke the junior world record. Her current aims are the European Championship title and the senior world record.
