European indoor champion Jakub Szymanski was among the Poles in excellent form in the 60m hurdles at the Polish Indoor Championships in Torun on Sunday (1) afternoon.
Competing on the same track which will host the World Athletics Indoor Championships in three weeks’ time, Szymanski sped to victory in the 60m hurdles in a fast 7.40, missing his Polish record set last year by just one-hundredth.
Aside from Szymanski himself, the only European who has ever run faster than Szymanski is Colin Jackson who holds the European record with 7.30, a time which stood as a world record from 1994 to 2021.
Szymanski, who is unbeaten in 10 races this year, is eyeing global success at home later this month. The 23-year-old was expected to challenge for a medal at the 2025 World Athletics Indoor Championships in Nanjing but an untimely stumble meant he exited in the semifinal stages, a fate he will be hoping to avoid in Torun.
"For a year I thought about revenge for the slip-up at the World Indoor Championships. The Americans are strong but they can be beaten, I plan to do it," said Szymanski.
Pia Skrzyszowska won the women’s 60m hurdles in 7.89 while 2019 European indoor champion Ewa Swoboda continues to round into competitive form with the World Indoor Championships, winning the women’s 60m title in a season’s best of 7.07.
Oliwer Wdowik won the men’s 60m title in a lifetime best of 6.54, just 0.03 shy of Marian Woronin’s long-standing Polish record.
Bukowiecka wins Polish indoor 400m title
European 400m champion Natalia Bukowiecka might not be too renowned for her indoor exploits but the Polish record-holder won the 400m in 51.44 ahead of 2018 European champion Justyna Swiety-Ersetic (51.75) and Anna Gryc (51.96).
2024 European U18 champion Anastazja Kus finished fourth in the final in a Polish indoor U20 record of 52.50.
Maciej Wyderka, who recently broke Adam Kszczot’s Polish indoor record, won a competitive men’s 800m in 1:44.76 ahead of Filip Ostrowski in 1:44.90 and European indoor 800m champion Anna Wielgosz stepped up in distance to win the 1500m in 4:18.18.
Other highlights included world silver medallist Maria Zodzik clearing 1.95m in the high jump and Paulina Ligarska improving her lifetime best to 4705 points to win the pentathlon.
However, there was sad news in the heptathlon for European U20 decathlon champion and world U20 record-holder Hubert Troscianka. The 2025 men’s Rising Star, who was hoping to attack the 6000 points-barrier, tore his left Achilles tendon in the long jump.