by Larry EderThanks to EME News, we have these behind the scenes updates on the Torun 2021 EA Indoo Champs, which were just completed. The Championships were exciting, with some amazing events and competitions.
Kevin Mayer, Heptathlon champion, photo by European Athletics
TORUN FLASH-BACK
TORUN (POL): Pole vault WR holder Mondo Duplantis confirmed he will be in Europe only for one week. “I am going back to Sweden now, for a week. Then go back to Louisiana and prepare for the summer.” About the winning competition he added: “In a way I was battling with Lavillenie, not Renaud, but Valentin. I really wanted the CR. The Gold was the most important thing. And I wanted to beat Renaud, well he was not here. Jumping 6m has still something special. Every time I jump it, it is a really good feeling. But it becomes a little bit easier. But 6m is still high.”
TORUN (POL): Despite winning gold in the 800m, Patryk Dobek looks likely to focus on the 400m hurdles this summer. “As for the summer season I’m still planning to train for the 400m hurdles but I’m sure my coach will think about what to do now and come up with a plan,” he said.
TORUN (POL): Eline Berings was forced to withdraw from the semifinals of the 60m hurdles in Torun due to coronavirus only to find out she had yielded a false positive. “Update. I needed another PCR test in the evening. Negative again. I was sidelined in competition for no reason. It could have been easily solved by retesting IMMEDIATELY after my “positive” result came out…” she wrote on Twitter.
TORUN (POL): Kevin Borlee was unhappy that Belgium was drawn in lane two in the men’s 4x400m relay final in Torun, informs sudinfo.be. “We knew straight away that it was going to be difficult because we were in lane two and we fell back in last position. I don’t find it normal for the defending champion to end up in lane two. Initially, we were even in lane one but we changed after Poland withdrew,” he said. The Belgians did protest but the lane draw stood.
TORUN (POL): After winning the European indoor 60m title in a world leading 6.47, Marcell Lamont Jacobs is targeting the Olympic 100m final in Tokyo this summer, informs FIDAL. “The first goal will be to reach a historic final. And then I’ll play all my cards,” he said.
TORUN (POL): European indoor 400m silver medallist Justyna Swiety-Ersetic was a late withdrawal from the 4x400m final due to a minor injury. Despite her absence the Poles still won a bronze medal behind the Netherlands and Great Britain.
TORUN (POL): Femke Bol ran the fastest individual split in the 4x400m relay in Torun. She clocked 49.99 on anchor after Lieke Klaver (51.67), Marit Dopheide (53.18) and Lisanne de Witte (52.31). According to PJ Vazel this was the third fastest indoor 4x400m leg in history after Kseniya Ryzhova (49.83) and Natalya Nazarova (49.89) in 2014 and 2004 respectively. Fastest men split was recorded by Kevin Borlee as Belgian anchor 45.69 followed by James Williams 46.09 and Lee Thompson 46.13. In women situation behind Bol, Poland´s Malgorzata Holub-Kowalik posted second fastest split 51.45 followed by Briton Jessie Knight 51.58 and Lieke Klaver 51.67.
TORUN (POL): The Polish men’s 4×400 metres relay team has been withdrawn from the European Athletics Indoor Championships following a COVID-19 outbreak. The Polish Athletic Association confirmed that the team would not take part in today’s final because of “cases of coronavirus infection”.
TORUN (POL): Torun championships scored per WA rankings 46 566 points, it is the highest in the 21st century. It is followed by Glasgow 2019 46 455, Prague 2015 46 260 and Belgrade 2017 46 254.
TORUN (POL): In 4 events Polish All-Comers indoor best mark was set, in 13 events records of Arena Torun.
TORUN (POL): Pavel Maslak in relay won his 7th medal from European Indoor championships, the biggest count from active participants. On the women side from active ones, Justyna Swiety-Ersetic fifth medal in Torun. In terms of participation number from active participants, Kostadinos Filippidis and Marcin Lewandowski registered their 7th indoor championships, among women Italian shot putter Chiara Rosa number six participation.
