Poland’s Konrad Bukowiecki has shown that he’s ready to join the elite club of throwers after setting a new U-20 World Record (WR) and Championship Record (CR) of 23.37m to win the men’s Shot put event (6kg) on Day 1 of the IAAF World Junior Championships being held in Bydgoszcz, Poland.
The Polish teenager was favoured to retain his title from Oregon, especially as he was competing on home soil, and he demonstrated his readiness by qualifying for the final with his first and only throw of 21.73m.
True to prediction, he needed only two throws to gift him the title. His first throw landed at 22.46m, which already gave him the lead. He was fouled on his second throw, before erasing the former CR of 23.00m at his 3rd attempt, which got the home crowd at the Zawisza Stadium cheering.
He was fouled once again on his 4th attempt. He said afterwards, “I can’t believe I just cried, I don’t know what just happened.” Romania’s Andrei Toader was 2nd with a National U-20 Record of 22.30m, and USA’s Bronson Osborn 3rd with a Personal Best (PB) of 21.27m.
Bukowiecki had already set the World U-20 Shot put (6kg) Indoor Record of 22.48m in January , and then finished 4th at the World Indoor Championships held in March with a throw of 20.53m.
He made a mark at his IAAF Diamond League debut in Oslo where he finished 2nd behind World leader Joe Kovacs with a World Junior Record (WJR) of 21.14m. He also placed 4th at the European Championships in Amsterdam with a mark of 20.58m.
The qualifying rounds for the women’s Discus, Javelin and Pole vault events also held on Day 1 of the championship. 12 athletes qualified for the final of the women’s Javelin, with five of them setting PBs in the process.
Turkey’s Eda Tugsuz topped the field with her throw of 55.77m, and was followed by Hanna Tarasiuk of Belarus (56.40m, PB), Japan’s Haruka Kitaguchi ( 56.16m), Chu Chang (54.65m, PB), home girl Klaudia Maruszewska (54.34m, PB) and South African Jo-Ane van Dyk (54.06m).
Julia Ritter of Germany topped the standings of the women’s Discus throw after setting a PB of 53.84m to win Heat B of the qualifying rounds. Also joining her on the list of Top 5 qualifiers of the event are USA’s Elena Bruckner (53.83m), Alexandra Emilianov (53.19m), Kristina Rakocevic (52.92m) and Kirsty Williams of Australia (52.83m).
The women’s Pole vault qualifiers were dominated by Venezuela’s Robeilys Peinado with a clearance of 4.20m. Other top qualifiers include Switzerland’s Angelica Moser (4.20m), Alix Dehaynain of France (4.15m, SB), Wilma Murto (4.15m) and China’s Qiaoling Chen (4.15m).
USA’s Ja’Mari Ward will be the man to watch out for in the men’s Long Jump final after setting a PB of 7.96m to win the preliminary round. He was closely followed by the Cuban duo of Maykel D. Massó and Juan Miguel Echevarría (7.91m and 7.89m).
