45 medalists of the last Olympic Games, 13 world record holders, including Armand Duplantis – those are the most important figures regarding the Diamond League in Silesia. – We are packing an Olympic-level competition into a few hours. It will be a feast – the organizers announce. Tickets are still available for the Saturday meeting.
The final countdown is under way: the Diamond League in the Superauto.pl Silesian Stadium will take place on Saturday, August 16th. The day before in Katowice, for the first time the fans will get a free foretaste of what is to come on the weekend – City Games, comprising three women’s events in a town-square format.
The event will take place over two days. But on the organization level, the 2025 Silesia Kamila Skolimowska Memorial has been in the making for a year. That much time was needed for tens of thousands of fans to be able to view an athletics extravaganza in the Witches’ Cauldron once again – with a total of 45 Olympic medalists from Paris, 17 current world leaders and 32 Polish athletes, some of whom are aiming at qualifying for the World Championships in September.
– We are shooting at the stars, as always – the head of the organising committee, Marcin Rosengarten, said to his team a few years ago. – But by now we know we can. And do not forget thanks to whom the stars are shining. We are doing this for Kamila Skolimowska.
Hours before the zero hour, the work at the venue is being finished. In total, tens of kilometres of electric and data transmission cables have been placed in the stadium, as well as several tons of measuring equipment, hectares of banners and information boards. To see the scale of the enterprise, one can look at the number of hotel resevations connected to the meeting. This year, a total of 555 rooms have been reserved, with one-half of them taken up by the competition staff.
A total of 2300 persons have been assigned accreditations for the Silesia Kamila Skolimowska Memorial in various capacities.
– Athletes from six continents travelled a total of 200 thousand kilometres last year to compete here. But that is not all. We estimate our guests will drink coffee brewed from 250 kilograms of beans, will eat approximately 800 kg of vegetables and a similar amount of meat. 115 officials and 200 volunteers will be working at the Diamond League meeting – aged 13 to 77. They will eat 6 thousand portions of ice cream and drink 18 thousand bottles of water. That is just a small fraction of what we have calculated. But it clearly shows the scale of the event – enumerated Marek Plawgo, the Memorial’s communications director.
Everything that been done in the past year has one main goal: commemorating the prematurely diseased Olympic champion from Sydney.
– The athletes themselves will do it best. A year ago they demonstrated to us what amazing results can be achieved in Silesia. Two world records fell, as well as multiple area records, national records and a great number of personal bests. In the end, it made us the best one-day meeting in the history of athletics according to the World Athletics tables. We believe the fields gathered this year will give us a similar result. The world will get to hear about Silesia again –The meeting’s sports director Piotr Małachowski said.
The release of the preliminary entry lists made a great impression. Even though changes are possible until the final hours before the competition, the experts are already talking about “cosmic level” and “Olympics condensed into a few hours”.
– We aimed at not having gaps in any events. To have major stars in every one of them. In the men’s 100 metres the Olympic champion Noah Lyles will face the world leader. In the men’s hammer, all medalists from Paris will compete. In the pole vault – a total of six six-metre clearers, including the phenomenal Armand Duplantis, who set a new world record of 6.29 yesterday in Budapest. The women’s high hurdles will be spectacular. Faith Kipyegon will be in the 3000m, there will be a super strong women’s 400m hurdles, Femke Bol, Sha’Carri Richardson and Masai Russell. I am sorry, you cannot say it all in one breath – Małachowski said with a laugh.
It is no secret that some top stars, after watching the previous editions of the meeting and listening to the grapevine, approach the “Kama” organisers to ask whether a place on the startlists is available.
– That and the after-competition questionnaires, in which we kept getting excellent marks year after year, is the greatest reason to feel proud. But it is also an obligation and a challenge not to lower the level – Rosengarten admitted.
One year ago after the competition featuring two world records. the meeting director was drenched in champagne in the competition office. All out of joy.
– Is it happening again this year? – the staff kept asking. The answer was obvious: – let us talk about it after everything works out again.
But prizes and positive surprises at the Polish leg of the Diamond League are awaiting not just the organising committee. For the second time, the athletes will strive for the MVP ring. The beautiful prize, resembling the shape of the Superauto.pl Silesian Stadium’s crown, will be handed to the athlete whose result scores the most points on the so-called Hungarian tables. For example, Duplantis’s 6.26 from last year was worth 1339 points. It could be matched with 9.62 in the men’s 100 metres or… 1:50.49 in the women’s 800 metres.
– This, along with the recent increase in prize money for placings in the Diamond League, gives the athletes an opportunity to make serious money. The stars of this caliber deserve it – Plawgo stated.
Friday’s City Games in the Katowice town square will take place at 3 PM. The entry is free of charge, however, space in the stands will be limited. The first come-first serve principle will be applied. Tickets to the Saturday’s main part of the Diamond League will be available for purchase at the Friday’s event. On August 16th the gates of the Superauto.pl Silesian Stadium will open at noon and the opening ceremony is scheduled for 1:30 PM. The competition will end after 6 PM.