Adam Kszczot will look to keep hold of his 800m title at the European Athletics Championship and in our Amsterdam Focus today, we look at the event itself.
Back in Barcelona 2010, the men’s 800m result at the European Athletics Championships saw Poland take gold and bronze, with Marcin Lewandowski and Adam Kszczot separated by Great Britain’s Michael Rimmer.
The winner was 23, the second was 24 and the third was 20. But who knew then they were forming a club where membership is hard to come by.
Fast forward to a week today, and what will be the last individual race in Amsterdam where incredibly the outcome could be exactly as it was six years ago.
France’s Pierre-Ambroise Bosse leads the European rankings heading into the championships with his time of 1:44.51 from May. Then the order is the Barcelona final, with Lewandowski (1:44.91) followed by Rimmer (1:44.93) and the defending champion, Kszczot (1:44.99).
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The ‘form’ man among the four is Rimmer, who ran his time only last week, amazingly in Barcelona of all places, and it is impossible to pick a winner. He has more experience than all of them having reached the final, where he was last, at the 2006 European Athletics Championships in Gothenburg.
The youngest of this quartet is Bosse who is 24, and he was the bronze medallist in Helsinki 2012.
Both Lewandowski and Kszczot missed those championships but they returned in Zurich two years ago when the latter finally triumphed outdoors.
Kszczot was the double European indoor champion, after his victories in Paris (2011) and Gothenburg (2013) and he wanted gold so much.
On a wet night, Bosse attempted to win from the front and the first lap was 50.97 as he really went for it, chased by Lewandowski.
Kszczot was moving closer and with 200m to go he made his mark, reaching the final straight in control as he ran away to the title in 1:44.15 followed by his teammate…but it was not Lewandowski.
In second came Artur Kuciapski with Lewandowski fifth and Bosse last.
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A year later, it was a medal on the world stage for Kszczot as he won silver at the IAAF World Championships in Beijing in a much slower final (1:46.08) behind Kenya’s world record-holder David Rudisha (1:45.84) and on a historic day for Bosnia & Herzegovina, Amel Tuka (1:46.30) was third as he won his country’s first ever major championship medal.
Tuka, 25, has maintained that speed this year, sitting fifth on the European rankings with 1:45.23 and he will surely have a part to play, now he is in a club where membership can last a long time.
MEN’S 800M AT THE LAST THREE EUROPEAN ATHLETICS CHAMPIONSHIPS
Barcelona 2010 (31 July)
1. Marcin Lewandowski (POL) 1:47.07
2. Michael Rimmer (GBR) 1:47.17
3. Adam Kszczot (POL) 1:47.22
Helsinki 2012 (29 June)
1. Yuriy Borzakovskiy (RUS) 1:48.61
2. Andreas Bube (DEN) 1:48.69
3. Pierre-Ambroise Bosse (FRA) 1:48.83
Zurich 2014 (15 August)
1. Adam Kszczot (POL) 1:44.15
2. Artur Kuciapski (POL) 1:44.89
3. Mark English (IRL) 1:45.03