World silver medallist Maria Żodzik and European indoor silver medallist Maksymilian Szwed picked up the top honours at the Golden Spikes Awards at Silesia Stadium on Thursday (23), in the annual ceremony recognising the year’s biggest achievements in Polish athletics.
Żodzik claimed the women’s Golden Spike ahead of Pia Skrzyszowska and Natalia Bukowiecka. She won silver in the women’s high jump at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, clearing 2.00m to become only the second Polish woman ever to surpass the two-metre mark.
Earlier in the year, she cleared 1.97m to finish second at the Madrid 2025 European Athletics Team Championships 1st Division.
The men’s award went to 400m runner Maksymilian Szwed, ahead of fellow finalists Jakub Szymański and Filip Rak. At the Apeldoorn 2025 European Athletics Indoor Championships, Szwed won silver in the 400m in 45.31, setting both a new Polish indoor record and a European U23 indoor record.
During the summer, he added another silver medal in the 400m at the Bergen 2025 European Athletics U23 Championships.
The Rising Star of the Year award went to Maciej Megier, the European U23 steeplechase champion, while Coach of the Year was presented to Żodzik’s coach Paweł Wyszyński, in recognition of his role in guiding his athlete to the highest international level.