Sprint hurdler Jakub Szymanski won gold ahead of Enrique Llopis and Trey Cunningham in front of the home fans in Torun on Saturday.
Few things add to the atmosphere of major championships more than the success of the host country. So when Jakub Szymanski won the men’s 60m hurdles final in Toruń on Saturday night, the reaction to his performance almost blew the lid off the Kujawsko-Pomorska Arena.
Minutes after Polish teammate Natalya Bukowiczka won the 400m silver medal, Szymanski ran a near-perfect race in 7.40 ahead of Enrique Llopis, who set a Spanish record of 7.42 for second, while Trey Cunningham was 7-45th all-time in the world. rating of 7.35 in his semi-final an hour earlier.
With three-time champion Grant Holloway absent from the event, Szymanski took his opportunity to fill in for the American.
“My goal was the national record because I thought it would take 7.35-7.37 to win,” said Szymanski, whose best is 7.37, “but major championship finals are something else.
“I’ve run in the 7.40 range a few times, so the main thing was to keep my nerve. I predicted Cunningham would have problems. The only surprise was the Spaniard who got ahead of him.”
Szymanski won the European Indoor Championships last winter but was eliminated in the semi-finals at the World Indoor Championships in Nanjing.
“Last year I was heartbroken to miss the final in Nanjing when the medals were finished in very slow times. Now the weight is off my shoulders. I thought every day and night to avenge that loss and now I did it.
“I worked hard on myself to get over what happened then. Records can be broken at any time, but winning gold is just special.”
