The stars of the Polish national team are chasing another goal after the successful European Championships in Birmingham: advancing to the Diamond League season finale. The road to Brussels passes through the Silesia Kamila Skolimowska Memorial. – They are also fighting for the 2027 World Championships already – Piotr Małachowski reminded. Tickets are still available for purchase.
Even though the European Championships in Birmingham are over, the summer of athletics in Poland is still under way. Just a week after the final race in England, the world’s best, including a number of Polish athlets, will be coming to compete in the Silesia Kamila Skolimowska Memorial. The event, which is a part of the prestigious Diamond League calendar for the fifth time, is a chance to thank out European Championships medalists. But for the athletes themselves, at least several of them, it is also an opportunity to qualify for the final of the series.
– The athletics Champions’ League, as we call it, works like this: throughout spring and summer, qualifying meetings take place all over the world. You win points for placings in every event, which leads to a ranking. A small group of the best athletes in the rankings receives an invitation to the season final – sports director of the Memorial Piotr Małachowski explained.
The final has been scheduled in Brussels on September 4th and 5th.
After completing 11 meetings, none of the Poles is yet certain of qualification. The one closest to the goal is Klaudia Kazimierska. The Birmingham runner-up is currently five points ahead of the first non-qualifying place, with Silesia the only race remaining in the 1500m. Natalia Bukowiecka has a margin of four points.
– It it were not for Rome, where I withdrew because of a niggle, the situation would be more comfortable. But apparently fate wanted it this way, so that I could seal the deal in front of the thousands of Polish fans – the European Championships silver medalist said with a smile.
Other European Championships runners-up are in a good position as well. Maria Żodzik has a cushion of three points in the high jump, while Pia Skrzyszowska has a margin of two points. Mateusz Kołodziejski, fifth in the high jump in England, is a mere one point away from a qualifying position. His participation in Brussels will be decided on August 22nd in Katowice, during the town square part of the Polish Diamond League stop.
– For me, the number one goal at the Memorial is the World Championships qualifying time. As it happens, on the day of the competition, August 23rd, the World Athletics qualifying window for Beijing opens. That is why I want to run 10.96. Please, fans, help me from the stands in achieving this – said Ewa Swoboda, now a two-time European runner-up.
The fastest Polish woman has a double task connected to the World Championships. Apart from herself, she will also be helping the mixed 4x100m relay in booking a ticket to China. It is expected that the lineup will include Poland’s best sprinters.
However, the list of Polish athletes due to appear in the Silesian Stadium is much longer.
– Apart from those mentioned above, competing in the Witches’ Cauldron will be the 400m standout Maksymilian Szwed, Weronika Lizakowska in the 1500m, Wiktoria Gajosz and Kinga Gacka at 300m, as well as Elżbieta Glinka, an athlete who is remarkable for her very short, but already successful career in distance running. In the 100m Dominik Kopeć will run alongside the world champion, while the 1500m will feature Filip Ostrowski and Maciej Wyderka. Of course, the bronze medalist from Birmingham Jakub Szymański will also be there, attempting to break his national record of 13.25. The throwers will be present as well: Konrad Bukowiecki and, importantly, Pawel Fajdek and Wojciech Nowicki. I should have started with their names, as the hammer throw is the event Kamila Skolimowska competed in – Małachowski said.
– Come see it all. To meet us on the day, let us make the event a wonderful athletics feast once again. We would like to thank you for your support during the European Championships as well. And to aim for achieving more goals together with you – those were the words of invitation from Natalia Bukowiecka.
Tickets to the Silesia Kamila Skolimowska Memorial are still available for purchase on the MemorialKamili.pl website. News on the meeting may be followed on the social media profiles of the meeting: on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X and YouTube.