Anita Wlodarczyk received yet another accolade on Tuesday evening as the world hammer champion and world record-holder was named ‘Champion of 2017’ at the National Sports Awards organised by Polish radio station Channel One.
Wlodarczyk went unbeaten for the third successive season, winning all twelve of her competitions in 2017. She came close to her world record on home soil in Cetniewo just days before the World Championships, launching the implement out to 82.87m - just eleven centimetres short of her one-year-old mark.
DziÄ™kuje za docenienie moich osiÄ…gnięć oraz codziennej cięŌkiej pracy na treningach https://t.co/On6qYT62LS
— anita wlodarczyk (@AnitaWlodarczyk) December 19, 2017
Wlodarczyk might not have been at her most dominant at the World Championships due to a finger injury but the 32-year-old still came away with her third world title where she produced two throws in excess of 77 metres (77.39m and 77.90m) in London.
Wlodarczyk claimed her first world title - and set her first world record - in Berlin back in 2009 and the Pole will be returning to the Olympic Stadium next August for the European Athletics Championships where she will be aiming for her fourth successive gold medal in the hammer.
Wlodarczyk is currently training for the upcoming season in Doha, Qatar but her parents collected the award on her behalf from the Polish Minister for Sport Witold Banka at an award ceremony in Warsaw.