Anna Rogowska winning in Warsaw (© Piotr Mieszkowski)
The greatest attraction of the 55th Janusz Kusocinski Memorial should be the duel between Virgilijus Alekna, the best discus thrower in the last decade and Piotr Malachowski, Olympic silver medallist from Beijing.
The Kusocinski Memorial, which is part of a select group of Area meetings at which points can be acquired by athletes to qualify for the IAAF / VTB Bank World Athletics Final, to be held on 12-13 September in Thessaloniki, Greece, will be held on Sunday afternoon (7 June) at Orzel Stadium in Warsaw.
Last year the men’s discus was the most exciting event when Malachowski leading after three rounds had moved back into third only to win with his last attempt by just 1 cm over Jenifer Casanas.
In Halle in his second competition this season Malachowski already bettered his own national record achieving 68.75. The plan for the upcoming competition is to concentrate on beating the barrier of 70m.
Malachowski has already beaten Alekna in their 20th competition throwing 3 cm farther in the Olympic final (it was the first win of the Pole over the Lithuanian). Also competing is Zoltan Kovago (HUN) with a personal best only 5 cm shorter than 70m, American Jarred Rome and Mart Israel (EST).
Deep field in Women's Discus and Hammer
The women’s discus became one of the strongest Polish events. Wioletta Potepa won on Tuesday in Dessau throwing 63.24. 26-year-old Zaneta Glanc, a new name, won in Halle with 62.82. 11 years her senior Joanna Wisniewska bettered 61 metres this year and youngest Agnieszka Jarmuzek set her personal best with 59.74.
At the last moment triple World champion Franka Dietzsch withdrew from the Memorial but the Poles will compete against a strong trio with three-time World Championships medallist Nicoleta Grasu (ROM), Vera Pospisilova-Cechlova (CZE) who is unbeaten this year in three meetings and Nataliya Semenova (UKR).
For the fourth time this year Martina Hrasnova (SVK) and local Anita Wlodarczyk will be competing against each other in women’s Hammer Throw. The young Pole trained by Czeslaw Cybulski, the first coach of Szymon Ziolkowski is currently the most consistent hammer thrower in the world, still breaking new boundaries. She will be joined by Kathrin Klaas (GER) and Iryna Sekachova (UKR), who both threw beyond 73 m this year.
Pyrek Vs Rogowska - again!
The women’s Pole Vault will determine who of Monika Pyrek or Anna Rogowska will represent Poland at the first European Team Championships. Already this year, during the famous “Pole Vault in the Pier” competition Rogowska cleared 4.61. The foreign vaulters are represented by the Russian trio of reigning European indoor Champion Yuliya Golubchikova, European Championship medallist Tatyana Polnova and Aleksandra Kiryashova as well as Jirina Ptacnikova (CZE).
Four athletes jumping 2.30 this year, the best Swedish athlete Linus Thornblad, Andrey Tereshin (RUS), Viktor Shapoval (UKR) and Samson Oni (GBR) are among the entrants in the men’s High Jump. Bogdan Bondarenko (UKR) and Sylwester Bednarek, gold and silver medallists at the World Junior Championships in Bydgoszcz 2008, will compete once more on the Polish soil. Still in a good shape is 33-year-old Grzegorz Sposob who won in Italy on Wednesday with 2.27.
The men’s Javelin Throw features Beijing silver medallist Ainars Kovals (LAT) and two Olympic finalist, Ilya Korotkov (RUS) and Vitezslav Vesely (CZE). The Polish young throwers will be lead by Pawel Rakoczy attacking 80 metres and the current World Junior champion Robert Szpak.
On the track...
The main memorial race will be the 5000 metres, one of the favourite events of Janusz Kusocinski, the legendary Olympic champion from Los Angeles 1932. This year the race will feature two Kenyans, last year winner Bernard Sang and three-time winner of the Memorial Run Joseph Kosgei.
In the 400 metres race the form of the Polish relay candidates will be checked by Olympic medallist in the relay Denis Alekseyev (RUS), European Champs finalist Andrea Barberi (ITA) and double European Indoor Championships medallist Ioan Vieru (ROU).
Polish fans are very interested in the rivalry between three talented local runners, the bronze medallist at the 2001 World Championships, Pawel Czapiewski and two youngsters, fourth-place finishers of the World Junior Championships, Marcin Lewandowski from Beijing (PB 1:45.03 set June 1st in Hengelo) and Adam Kszczot from Bydgoszcz (PB 1:46.05 set in solo run June 2nd in Dessau). The race includes Kenyans John Litei and Reuben Bett.
The women’s 1500m will be a three-nations match – Great Britain, led by last year World Junior champion Stephanie Twell and Beijing fourth placer Lisa Dobriskey, Russia having two athletes with personal best below 4 minutes, Natalya Yevdokimova and Yelena Zadorozhnaya and Poland with double European Cup winner, Sylwia Ejdys and the most experienced Lidia Chojecka (aiming for the World Championships standard).
The women’s 400m Hurdles will bring the duel between two athletes who finished the Olympic final just behind the podium, fourth placer Anastasiya Rabchenyuk (UKR) and fifth placer Anna Jesien.
Janusz Rozum for the IAAF
