Poland's Jakub Szymanski produced one of the highlights at the sold-out ISTAF Indoor World Athletics Indoor Tour Silver event in Düsseldorf on Sunday afternoon.
In front of a crowd of 6,350, Szymanski won the 60-meter hurdles in 7.47 seconds. He beat Damian Sikie's two-year-old record by 0.01 seconds, making him the world's top and Polish record. Szymanski also led Poland's one-two in this event, with Krzysztof Kirjan second in 7.66.
“I feel amazing. I would like to thank my coach and the entire team. We changed coaches and practice locations before the season, but I am very happy that we made the decision to change groups.
“I didn't think I could run this fast today. I wanted to break the Polish record, but today I didn't think it was possible,'' said the 36-year-old, who won silver in the 60m hurdles at the European Athletics Indoor Championships last year. said Szymanski, who made the leap.
Lisek defeats Kendricks in pole vault
Piotr Lisek also won for Poland in the pole vault, defeating long-time friend and rival Sam Kendricks with a season's best of 5.75 meters.
The one-point difference on the scorecards was 5.65 meters, which Lisek cleared on his second attempt, while Kendricks needed all three attempts to clear it. Both athletes cleared 5.75 meters on their first attempts, but Lisek regretted failing at 5.82 meters.
“5.75 meters is not enough for my athleticism. My jump of 5.82 meters was good. I'm happy to win in Düsseldorf. said Lisek, who was the first to clear 6 meters on German soil.
In the women's long jump, Mikael Asani won with 6.64 meters on her fourth attempt, beating 19-year-old European U20 bronze medalist Laura Raquel Muller, who took the lead with 6.52 meters on her third jump.
It was at this point that reigning Olympic champion Malaika Mihambo withdrew from the competition after recording three consecutive no-jumps.
“It's very disappointing, but of course I had other things in mind. But the jump was good and that's just a confidence booster. The atmosphere was great and it was a lot of fun to jump here today.” said Mihambo.
Stephen Mills, European Athletics Representative
