Zakopane hosts Polish Senior Championships
Sep 14, 2020·Cross-CountryOn Sunday, 13th September the final of the Polish Senior Championships in Roller Skiing took place on the courses of the Central Sports Center in Zakopane. Gold medals were won by Izabela Marcisz and Dominik Bury, who in the last run gained a big advantage over their rivals and were the first to cross the finish line.
It was a great weekend and a real celebration of Cross-Country skiing, or rather Roller Skiing in Zakopane. Both the organization of the competition and the sports competition were at the highest level. There was a great cheering of fans who gathered in large numbers on the modernized COS OPO Zakopane roller ski runs and created a great atmosphere.
The fight in the national championship was divided into three stages and lasted two days. After Saturday's first races, the leaders were Monika Skinder and Maciej Staręga, however on Sunday, the first violin was played by Marcisz and Bury, who in a beautiful style achieved victories in the free technique long distance runs.
Izabela Marcisz is great at distances, which she also proved during a 10 km run using any technique. The three-time medalist of the Junior World Championships from Oberwiesenthal was the main favorite for the gold medal, and it also happened that Izabela Marcisz won the title of the Polish champion in a beautiful style. A representative of the Prządki-Ski Sports Association from the very beginning imposed a strong pace of the race and with each lap she increased the advantage over her rivals.
"Currently, we are already at the third camp this season in Zakopane, but if I know these routes very well, I do not know. One thing I know for sure is that they are very demanding and that you have to run really fast both in summer and winter to achieve a good result here. Anyway, this is the specificity of each route. I am glad that so many fans came to cheer us on and I hope that as many people as it were now will also cheer us on during the winter. It should be emphasized that cheering on the route gives us a lot of motivation and a lot of willingness to fight even better - he adds.- I think that the formula of these Polish Championships was a big surprise for all competitors, because we had three starts in two days. It was a bit of a surprise at the beginning, but later it was a really nice weekend for us both in terms of competition and training. I think that many players treated this start as a very strong training in their summer preparation plan for the winter season. I would also like to emphasize that the Polish Ski Association rose to the occasion and really organized this competition at a very high level. The very organization of the competition, the sponsor's exhibition and the media coverage, I think that a long, long time ago, and even probably never had such a well-prepared competition in Poland", concluded Marcisz the fantastic event and the great organization of the Polish team.
The vice-champion of Poland was Monika Skinder from the club MULKS Grupa Oscar Tomaszów Lubelski, while the bronze medal in the national championship was won by Magdalena Kobielusz from the SSR LZS Sokół Szczyrk club.
Sport emotions were also present in the 15 km freestyle men's race. Lukas Bauer's charges created a great spectacle and from the beginning of the start they imposed a strong pace of the run. In the last lap, Dominik Bury did his job, proving that he is skilled at this distance and thus the representative of KS AZS AWF Katowice won the championship title.
"It was a very fruitful competition for us, and the competition in the Polish Championships was very fun. This weekend was basically the last cycle of the camp for us, therefore this competition was difficult for us, because we already felt tired after a hard training camp in God's Gift. The 15 km skating was the most difficult for me, even though I like this distance a lot - said the newly minted Polish champion.- This form of the competition was something new for us, but I liked it and I think the fans too. I hope that the national competition will continue to develop and will be more and more interesting for our fans", he adds. "Kamil and Maciek presented themselves very well, so I knew it would be difficult. I had to leave my strength for the last wheel to attack and break away from my rivals, but on the second lap I tried to run quite hard", emphasizes Dominik Bury. **"**The routes in Zakopane are quite nice, although it is known that these are not cup routes, and the loop is only 2.5 km long. However, we are glad that they were created, but we also hope that we will see longer routes someday", summarizes the gold medalist.
Find the original race report here.
Medalists of the Polish Seniors Championship
Izabela Marcisz - Prządki-Ski Sports Association
Monika Skinder - MULKS Oscar Group Tomaszów Lubelski
Magdalena Kobielusz - SSR LZS Sokół Szczyrk
Medalists of the Polish Senior Championships
Dominik Bury - KS AZS AWF Katowice
Maciej Staręga - UKS Rawa Siedlce
Kamil Bury - KS AZS AWF Katowice