The 2013 Polish National Championships, and World Championship qualifier, took place over the weekend in Olsztyn, and while the Poles were receiving the new that Mateusz Sawrymowicz would receive a bronze medal in the World Championship 1500 free after Mads Glaesner was stripped of his gold, they put up a lot of really impressive swims.
This could be one of the biggest rosters for Poland at a World Championship meet in a while, especially with some very good 50 meter stroke sprinters. History says that those 50 meter swimmers will be offered opportunities to swim longer races, where allowed under FINA rules, in addition to their sprints. See the qualifying standards here.
Konrad Czerniak was the star of the meet, beginning with his win in the 50 free with a 21.95. Just after his 24th birthday, that’s the fastest that he’s ever been in textile in the 50, and qualified him to swim the race at the World Championships. Filip Wypych took 2nd in 22.5, meaning Czerniak would be the lone qualifier; and 17-year old Jan Holub was 4th in 22.86, which sets a new Polish 17 & under National Record.
He would also add a victory in the 100 free with a 48.96, followed by Pawel Korzenowski in 49.26. Neither swimmer hit the World Championship qualifying time in the event (Czerniak missed by just .03 seconds, though, so it’s likely if he wants he’ll be given a ‘bonus’ entry in this event given that he’s already qualified).
Holub had another nice swim and a 5th place finish in 50.54, which gives him a second qualification spot on the World Junior Championships team.
More wins went to Czerniak in both the 50 fly (23.46), thouh in prelims he swam a new Polish Record of 23.41; and the 100 fly (51.79). He and Korzenowski were again one-two in that race, with a 51.93, and both will be qualified to swim it in Barcelona. That ranks the pair 6th and 7th in the world this year.
Two American-trained collegiates, Marcin Tarczynski and Marcin Cieslak, were 4th and 5th, respectively, in times that will qualify them for the World University Games in Russia, where either could win gold if formally accepted.
Korzeniowski picked up his second Worlds qualification in the 200 free, which he won in 1:46.87, missing just two tenths off of his own National Record in the event. He and Jan Switowski (1:47.66) were both well under the World Championship qualifying standard. Combined with Dawid Zielinski’s 1:49.30, and someone from a handful of 1:50’s in this race, the Poles could have a top 5-worthy quartet in the 800 free relay that they didn’t even swim in London.
The men’s distance races were a bit of a stunner as Mateusz Sawrymowicz, who is the National Record holder in the men’s 1500 and was just bumped up to a medal position from Short Course Worlds, didn’t swim either the men’s 800 or 1500.
The 800 went to Filip Zaborowski, who back-halved his way to a big negative-split of 7:57.40 (3:59.3-3:58.1) to hit the World Championship standard. 18-year old Pawel Furtek will join him after a 7:58.99, which also breaks the Polish 18 & under National Record. That’s also a best time for him by five seconds.
Furtek did one better with a 15:10.30 to run away with the men’s 1500 (Zaborowski didn’t swim it), though he missed the Junior National Record in this one. That’s a 17-second lifetime best for the Junior-level swimmer, putting him on path for a bright future in a very good Polish distance group.
The women’s squad from Poland didn’t have nearly as much success in Olsztyn as their men did, without a single swimmer hitting the World Championship qualifying standards. There were some promising swims in the sprint races, including a 25.35 from Aleksandra Urbanczyk in the 50 free to miss the Worlds standard by just .01 seconds. That was just off of her lifetime best, however, and she will sprint at the World University Games along with Anna Dowgiert (25.51 in the 50) and Katarzyna Wilk (55.79 in the 100).
It wouldn’t be a hard decision for the Polish federation to give Urbanczyk a shot at that 50 free in Barcelona, however, as she qualified already in the 50 back with a 28.21, which is a new Polish National Record. It knocked two-tenths off of her old personal best. 19-year old Klaudia Nazieblo will join her in that race with a 28.69.
Nazieblo was able to give a push in the 100 backstroke halfway, but with no Urbanczyk in this longer sprint, Alicja Tchorz pulled away on the back-half in 1:01.54. That misses the World Championship mark, which is a bit of a surprise as she was half-a-second better last year.
Tchorz will have to settle for the World University Games after a 2:13.07 in the 200 back.
In the men’s backstrokes, Jakub Jonczyk won in 25.42 to qualify for his first major global squad on the senior-level. In that race, he pulled off a bit of an upset over Radoslaw Kawecki, who missed the qualifying standard.
In the 100, though, Kawecki got one back, winning in 54.28 to take the spot in Beijing. Jonczyk had a fantastic mark of 55.17 for 2nd, but as he’s never hit the FINA Automatic Qualifying Standard, he’s not qualified to swim this race in Barcelona, even as a bonus race, per FINA rules.
Still, though, Jonczyk has a bright future. He swam the three best times of his career at this meet, and though he let go a little on the back-half of the race, in total he cut two seconds off of his lifetime best in this breakout event. With maybe one more year of seasoning for the 21-year old and he could be challenging Kawecki for that top spot.
Marcin Tarczynski, trained in the U.S. at Cal, was 3rd in the 100 back in 55.35, which is another World University Games qualifier for him.
With three very good legs, the Polish relay looks to be a breaststroker short of a medal contender in the 400 medley relay. The winner of that men’s 100 breaststroke was Dawid Szulich in 1:01.21; that missed individual qualification, but he’ did qualify in the 50 (27.91). That’s a strong 50 meter time, showing his potential for the sprint.
Just as they have a very good 50 breaststroker, the Polish federation also has very good 200 swimmers.Mikolaj Machnik and Slawomir Kuczko were both 2:12-mids to make the roster for Barcelona.
Nobody was in the same neighborhood as Kawecki in his best event, the 200 back, as he ran away with a five-second-victory in 1:56.14. Age-wise, he’s coming into his prime (he turns 22 just after Worlds), and this is the fastest he’s ever been outside of a World or Continental championship meet.
The female breaststrokers again struggled, with nobody better than 1:11 in the 100 meter race.
The women overall had their best performances, not surprisingly in the butterfly races. Without Otylia Jedrzejcak, the 2004 Olympic Champion, for the first time in a long time, there were no Worlds qualifiers in the 200 fly, but Anna Dowgert did well to qualify for Barcelona in the sprint races. She was a 26.6 in the 50 fly, about three-tenths away from her National Record. She swam a 59.59, which only qualified for the World University Games, but combined with her time in the 50 fly will likely mean an attempt in Barcelona.
There was not much of note in either IM race; Marcin Cieslak, who swam the 200 in both the Olympics last year and at the World Championships in 2011, but didn’t even attempt the event this year. His only swim of the event in long course, in fact, was a pretty subpar 2:09 at the Charlotte Grand Prix. That left Jan Switowski and Marcin Suzin to battle it out for the 200 IM title. Switowski used a far-superior backstroke race to win in 2:02.0, followed by Suzin in 2:02.8. Nothing exciting happened in any of the other three IM finals.
The USA college trained Poles didn’t swim very well at their Trials. Wonder why that is?
Braden – is there any chance of you doing an article to explain how qualifying for WC works? Especially in the lead up to American Trials.
Sure Mac. I’ve largely done both and can direct you to either – are you curious about specifically how American qualifying works, Canadian qualifying, any other country, or broadly how FINA views qualifying? FINA has the most liberal qualifying procedures, and then most countries taper them to fit their own needs and thoughts.
Thanks for the extended report and I didn’t know Czerniak was this good in the 50 meters.
Yeah, he’s definitely improving. He could be one of the big overall stars in Rio.