The organizers of the World Championships in Eugene lamented the lack of world records for so long. Until the formidable Sidney McLaughlin came out and broke the record in the 400-meter hurdles. Today, on the final day of the tournament, the American public, as a reward for patience, received the two best results in history. And what could excite the Poles? Indeed, nothing – Pia Skrzyszowska, despite equalizing her best, was eliminated in the semi-finals of the 100m hurdles, and the men’s 4x400m relay took last place in the final.

Two world records to bid farewell to the World Championships in Athletics! poles without success

Score on the hurdles and score on the pole

The evening session, the last in this tournament, certainly did not disappoint us. Anyway, it would be difficult, because it was full of finals. We watched most of them, yes, curious about the competition, but without getting excited on our faces. up about them in an instant. Because first of all it must be said that the first competition of this cycle ended with … a world record. It was not final at all. The record was broken in the first semi-final of the 100-meter hurdles.

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time? 12.12 p. Eight percent is better than the previous best result in history.

At 100-meter hurdles, these 80s are already a huge thing. But even more impressive is who broke that record. Done by Toby Amosan from Nigeria. On Saturday, in qualifying, the African woman set a record for her continent with a score of … 12.40 seconds, and a day later she slipped by three tenths of a second. – I just wanted to get out on the treadmill and run. I did what I had to do. Now I’m waiting for the final – I spoke after takeoff. We also waited for the final, convinced that perhaps we would see something equally impressive.

And imagine what? We saw. In the final, the Nigerian woman improved her best score…more! I reached the finish line with a score of 12.06sec. The only problem is that the wind (2.5 m/s in the back) was too strong for this result to be recognized as official. Thus, the world record – after passing the standard certification procedure – will be the number from the semi-finals. But Amosan and the other obstacles seem to slowly sharpen their teeth, even down to the 12-second mark. Because there is one more thing to add here – the Nigerian did not participate perfectly in the semi-finals nor in the finals. So the stock is definitely big.

Similarly, Armand Duplantis was above the bar as the Swede broke the world record again. But this time it was an extraordinary record, because for the first time since the time of Serhiy Bubka (specifically: from July 1994, then 6.14 m), the absolute world record was set not in the hall, but on the field, that is, where he should take the pole vault In mind even wind gusts and jumps are the most difficult for them. Duplantis certainly didn’t do it for the last time – because even today, in his record jump of 6.21m, he had enough clearance over the bar that he could attack boldly 6.30m.

It is difficult to express in words the advantage it has over its competitors. Where the others stop – and thus on the six-meter border – he jumps as if he were still warm. Having earned the gold for himself, he easily jumped 6.06 (thus setting a new championship record), then turned the pole and attacked the world record. It didn’t all go well on the first try, but he showed on the second try that he was second to none. The end of his control was no longer visible yet, but it was also difficult to imagine that someone could suddenly appear and threaten him. The rest were only fighting for second place.

Armand is untouchable.

The Americans are also untouchable in the 4x400m relay – both men and women were victorious by the hosts, and Sidney McLaughlin also showed that she was quick without obstacles, running brilliantly in the last turn and securing the gold medal for the USA. In the decathlon, Kevin Mayer had an excellent second day, thanks to which he won the second world title in his career. Mallika Mihambo won the long jump – as expected – taking Germany’s only gold medal in Eugene. In the men’s 5,000m, Jakob Ingebrigtsen made a great finish, playing the start in his own way and winning the gold medal, beating runners from Africa. Of the 800 women, Athing Mu fought more fiercely than expected, but eventually fended off Kelly Hodgkinson’s attacks from Great Britain and awarded the United States another gold medal.

What about the Poles?

Pia with Best Personality, last sequel to the final

Well, we didn’t have a lot of feelings on the last day. Dawid Tumala was 35 km behind the podium in his walk, but in the end it was not particularly surprising – for him it was only the second start of his career from this distance, and in the preparatory period he was in good health. Problems. In the evening session, on the other hand, we only looked at Pia Skrzyszowska and the 4x400m relay, but the guys – because that’s the guy who managed to get to the finals. But we didn’t expect any medals from our hurdles or the 400m.

As it turned out – right.

Our relay in his race reached the finish line in the final ninth place. However, her mere presence in the finals, considering the many problems and not the best form of Kajetan Duszyński and Karol Zalewski, the two leaders, was a nice surprise anyway. But in today’s final it was clear that not only for the best, but also for the teams from 4-7 positions. We have lost a lot. Although it doesn’t mean we didn’t have a chance of getting a spot in the middle of the group. The fact that we did not occupy it was due to a combination of circumstances.

First of all, Maximilian Klipache, who started the relay race, could not stand the difficulties of the second fast race in two days. Although it looked like the change would be somewhat of a fifth for the 300m, he eventually passed the baton to Karol Zalowski as one of the last. After the tie, Carroll was ninth, but relatively close to the group. But it did mean that when he gave the wand himself, he had to catch a lot of yards, and run into the outside lanes (and had a great time, 44.49). Unfortunately, when he handed over the baton to Mateusz Rzesniezak, it was blocked by one of the competitors who finished the change. The pole had to slow down and avoid him and only then set off in pursuit of the rest of the stake. As a result, he lost a lot of meters, which he and Kajitan Dosinsky could not compensate for.

Pia Skrzyszowska finished her performances on the final day of the tournament faster, not even making it to the 100m hurdles final, but…paradoxically, she has more reason to be happy. She achieved her goal – she ran like her life. True, it is not a beating, but a tie, but it is still a sign that Eugene came to Eugene in excellent manners. And since her time – 12.62 seconds – did not qualify for the medals, this only shows how great her competitors are (in 2019 this result will be enough for the final, in which she will give fifth place, just like the Tokyo Olympics. ).

– Before my race, I only saw that the world record had been broken earlier and that a Nigerian woman had been set. So I knew it was fast. I wasn’t expecting anyone to break the world record. I tried to get it out of my head and run my best. I thought a result like mine could lead to promotion to the final, but my competitors ran better. Big events motivate me, I wanted to beat my best here, I was able to equalize it. The goal now is the European Championships in Munich, I want to fight for the medals and finally break the 12.60s limit – Pia said on TVP Sport.

The fight for medals – even gold – is real in Germany. Only Cindy Semper, who ran 12.50 seconds today, did better among the European women on the world lists.

The American Championship, Europe is in decline

The World Cup in Eugene – as it was meant to be – dominated the United States. The Americans in their first World Cup finals on their home soil completely weaned the competition, winning 33 medals. Which of course is no surprise. Indeed, several discs, which seem certain, were lost by the representatives of the hosts on the way – for example the men’s 4x100m relay gold, where the Canadians surprised them with the exceptional Andre de Grasse at the finish. However, for the overall rating, this is at best so important that they did not beat their all-time best score, which was created three years ago. Then the tournament ended in Doha with 14 zlotys, 11 silver and 4 bronze medals.

Eugene was very close to this result. In the end, they won 13 zlotys, 9 silvers and 11 bronzes.

Behind their backs there are other forces, but they specialize in specific competitions. Thus Ethiopia (4-4-2), Jamaica (2-7-1) and Kenya (2-5-3) won ten medals each. African nations have traditionally been the strongest in long-distance races, and Jamaica has been particularly prominent in the women’s sprints (their gold medals come from 100 and 200 metres, being the first podium for all Jamaicans) and relay races. Behind the appearances of the three “running”, China (2-1-3), Australia (2-0-1) and Peru (2-0-0, both gold medals from Kimberly Garcia Leon who won 20 and 35 km). .

Here you have to ask yourself an important question: Where is Europe? Because yes, Great Britain managed to win six medals, but only one gold. And in the medal standings they even came behind … Poland! Our representation was the absolute best from the ancient continent. And that’s despite the fact that – compared to the result of a few previous tournaments, and even the Olympics in Tokyo, where we won nine medals, including four golds – we’ve done relatively poorly, experiencing some disappointments along the way. The biggest was, of course, not being promoted to the women’s 4x400m relay final. But the gold from Pawe Fajdek and three silvers – one from Wojciech Nowicki and two from Katarzyna Zdziebło – were enough to be able to be called a European power.

The other thing is that it reflects not so well on our athletics (although it is still a good result), but badly on the other European teams. Let’s be clear: our position in this tournament was not great. And he settled for eighth place in the medal table, better than the European representation. In a slightly more reliable points classification – taking into account the finals and places in them – the Poles also took eighth place (and second in Europe, the UK was better), but 49 points and being in only 9 finals is our weakest score since the 2011 World Cup, when we scored 46 points (in 11 finals).

In other words: it could have been better, but… we actually did what we expected. Before the tournament, four medals were created. Although in these assumptions, two were supposed to give us a relay race – mixed and women’s – 4 x 400 metres, neither one nor the other succeeded in the end (Zdziebło made up for these losses).

Let us then, at the European Championships in Munich, make up for these failures at least a little. Plus, for example, medals by Pia Skrzyszowska or Adrianna Sułek, who delighted us with performances in the heptathlon and finished right behind the podium. And then it can be really good.

picture Newspix