Reigning European 100m hurdles champion Pia Skrzyszowska will headline the 60m hurdles on home soil at the ORLEN Cup in Lodz on 27 January, a World Athletics Indoor Tour Bronze meeting.
Skrzyszowska amassed a brief albeit blazing indoor season last year which included a victory at the ORLEN Cup where she powered to a lifetime best of 7.78, missing the legendary Polish indoor record set by Zofia Bielczyk in 1980 by just 0.01.
Skrzyszowska will face high calibre opposition in Lodz from Jamaica’s Megan Tapper, the Olympic 100m hurdles bronze medallist from the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
Ewa Swoboda will seek yet another victory in the Atlas Arena in the 60m. The 2019 European indoor champion won for the sixth time since 2016 last year in 7.14 and will be seeking her fourth successive victory at this meeting later this month.
Another highlight will be the men’s shot put where home favourites Konrad Bukowiecki and Michal Haratyk - the 2017 and 2019 European indoor champions respectively - face strong continental opposition from reigning European outdoor champion Filip Mihaljevic from Croatia and Italy’s world silver medallist Leonardo Fabbri.
Piotr Lisek and Sam Kendricks will renew their rivalry in the pole vault with European bronze medallist Pal Haugen Lillefosse and Greece’s European indoor silver medallist Emmanouil Karalis also part of the world class line-up.
Elsewhere, last year’s breakthrough hurdler Jakub Szymanski sprints in the 60m hurdles while Norbert Kobielski - who improved to 2.33m last year - competes in the high jump.
Meeting director Sebastian Chmara commented: "There will be a lot of these world class stars. The Olympic season is finally starting! Currently, we have confirmation of the participation of approximately ten medalists and finalists of the largest world events. However, there is still some time left until the meeting and this list will grow."
The current schedule for World Athletics Indoor Tour Silver, Bronze and Challenger events in Europe in 2024 can be found here.