Poland will be sending a team of 86 athletes to the Berlin 2018 European Athletics Championships from 7-12 August.
The Polish team topped the medal table at the 2016 European Championships in Amsterdam with six gold medals and all six reigning champions will be defending their titles in the German capital next month.
Poland has been exceptionally strong in the throwing events for the last decade in particular and reigning world and European hammer champions Anita Wlodarczyk and Pawel Fajdek will be looking to add to their respective title hauls.
Wlodarczyk relinquished her four year-long unbeaten streak earlier this season but the world record-holder has since returned to excellent form, throwing 78.74m to win the Athletics World Cup in London before improving to 79.59m at the Polish Championships. Not only will she be aiming for her fourth successive title, her championship record of 78.76m from Zurich 2014 could be in jeopardy as well.
The men’s hammer title is expected to remain in Polish hands although Fajdek will face tough opposition from teammate and perennial major championships bronze medallist Wojciech Nowicki who leads the world lists with 81.85m to Fajdek’s 81.14m.
The other reigning champions on Poland’s team for Berlin are Adam Kszczot in the 800m, Angelika Cichocka in the 1500m, Robert Sobera in the pole vault and Piotr Malachowski in the discus.
Sobera makes up a strong Polish trio in the pole vault which also includes European indoor champion Piotr Lisek and former world champion Pawel Wojciechowski.
One of Kszczot’s principal rivals in the 800m is teammate Marcin Lewandowski who has entered both the 800m and 1500m as has Cichocka who won the 1500m title in Amsterdam two years ago.
Another title favourite is Michal Haratyk in the shot put. Haratyk broke former two-time Olympic shot put champion Tomasz Majewski’s Polish outdoor record with 21.97m earlier this season before breaking the 22 metre-line with 22.08m in Ostrava, also a European leading mark.
Full team here.
More information on the 2018 European Championships:
- The Berlin 2018 European Athletics Championships will be part of the first multi-sport European Championships along with co-hosts Glasgow.
- It will be a must-watch, must-attend experience that elevates the status of European Champions, uniting existing European Championships to celebrate the highest honour in European sport and celebrating the defining moments that create Champions.
- It is the continent’s ultimate multi-sport event, an 11-day celebration of European sport staged every four years.
- Seven of Europe’s leading sports (athletics, aquatics, rowing, golf, cycling, gymnastics, triathlon) will be brought together for the first edition.
- The European Athletics Championships in Berlin will be staged 7-12 August. The six other sports will be staged in Glasgow through 2-12 August.
- 4500 athletes and 52 nations will compete across the seven sports.
- Potential TV audience of over one billion with millions more across multiple digital platforms.
- Over half a million spectators expected.