Julia Walczyk-Klimaszyk beat Hungary’s Flora Pasztor 15-11 in the final of the foil event in the southern city of Kraków on Sunday, securing the biggest win of her career, Polish state news agency PAP reported.
Walczyk-Klimaszyk, who was carried to victory by an enthusiastic home crowd, said afterwards: “It is amazing to win here in Kraków and to have the support of my family and everyone else. It is never an easy match against Flora, but every time I got tired the crowd would give me so much energy.”
Meanwhile, Wojciech Nowicki on Saturday scooped gold in the men’s hammer throw at the Silesian Stadium in the southern city of Chorzów, thanks to a best effort of 79.61 metres, the PAP news agency reported.
Also on Saturday, Pia Skrzyszowska triumphed in the women’s 100 metres hurdles in Chorzów, clocking a personal season’s best of 12.77 seconds, according to news outlets.
More European Games medals for Poland
Krzysztof Kaczkowski claimed silver in the men’s sabre event, after losing 13-15 to Georgia’s Sandro Bazadze in the final in Kraków on Sunday, the PAP news agency reported.
Also on Sunday, Poland’s track-and-field athletes earned three more medals at the 2023 European Games, according to news outlets.
Maks Szwed, Anna Kiełbasińska, Igor Bogaczyński and Natalia Kaczmarek scooped silver in the mixed 4x400 metres relay in Chorzów, while Albert Komański came second in the men’s 200 metres, and Norbert Kobielski claimed bronze in the men’s high jump, the PAP news agency reported.
The athletics events at the 2023 European Games at the same time constituted the 2023 European Athletics Team Championships, according to officials.
Poland, who were the defending champions, this time finished second, behind Italy and ahead of Germany, the PAP news agency reported.
Poland’s other European Games medals at the weekend came when Marika Popowicz-Drapała, Monika Romaszko, Magdalena Stefanowicz and Ewa Swoboda on Saturday took silver in the women’s 4x100 metres relay, finishing with a time of 42.97 seconds, only behind the Netherlands on 42.61 seconds, the PAP news agency reported.
Meanwhile, Sylwia Szczerbińska and Aleksander Kitewski claimed the silver in the mixed canoe double 200 metres event at Lake Kryspinów near Kraków.
Poland also scooped bronze in the men’s 3x3 basketball tournament, beating Germany 21-18 in the third-place match in Kraków, the PAP news agency reported.
Aneta Stankiewicz, Julia Piotrowska and Natalia Kochańska took the bronze in the 10 metre air rifle women’s team event, defeating Hungary 17-5 in the third-place clash in the southwestern city of Wrocław.
After the weekend’s action, Poland sat fifth in the medals table of the 2023 European Games, having won nine golds, seven silvers and seven bronzes, the PAP news agency reported.
Spain was on top of the medal standings, with 17 golds, nine silvers and 10 bronzes, followed by Italy (15-17-21) and Ukraine (11-7-4).
2023 European Games
A total of 370 Polish athletes, 188 men and 182 women, are vying for medals at the 3rd European Games, which opened in the historic Polish city of Kraków last Wednesday and run until July 2.
The 2023 European Games feature 12 days of competition in 29 sports and provide opportunities to win European championship medals and a pathway to qualify for the 2024 Olympic Games in some of the sports.
Polish Sports Minister Kamil Bortniczuk has said that Poland is aiming to top the medals table of the Games.
"We set ourselves ambitious goals," Bortniczuk said. "We hope to finish top of the medal standings."
More than 7,000 athletes from 48 countries have flocked to Poland to compete in the event, which is taking place at 25 venues in 13 southern Polish cities.
Poland won 14 medals, three gold, one silver and 10 bronze, at the 2nd European Games in Minsk, Belarus in 2019.
Team Poland scooped 20 medals, two gold, eight silver and 10 bronze, at the 1st European Games in Baku, Azerbaijan, in 2015.
(pm/gs)
Source: PAP, european-games.org
Click on the audio player above to listen to a report by Radio Poland's Ada Janiszewska.