The Polish European champion is gone! Bad opening of the athletics festival

In the case of Wojciech Nowicki, we are talking about a great champion of athletics arenas. The Polish hammer thrower came to Great Britain as the defending European champion from 2024.

Unfortunately, as it turned out, the golden performance from Rome could not be repeated. This time the European champion lost in the qualifying round. Nowicki achieved a result of 74.49 m. This gave him 13th place, i.e. the first place… which did not give him a place in the final.

ME 2026: Wojciech Nowicki was eliminated in the qualifying round! Health beat the Pole?

However, anyone who regularly follows events in athletics arenas knows well that Nowicki has experienced a lot since the aforementioned golden European Championship 2024. Unfortunately, I was mainly fighting to get back into optimal shape, trying to survive major health problems.

– What can I say, I would like to keep throwing. We have been working in this direction, I thank the union for coming here. Even though I returned physically, there is no trace of the injury and it does not coincide with the technique. I have no feeling, we are trying to find it. It’s not there yet. My nervous system is tired, I can’t feel the equipment. The body still needs some time – Nowicki said after his unsuccessful performance in front of the TVP Sport camera.

Nowicki’s performance during this year’s Polish Championships could have been a disturbing signal. In the event, which was held at the venue of the Olympic champion (IO 2021 in Tokyo), i.e. Białystok, the athlete took “only” third place.

For Nowicki, who won medals regularly – for nine years in a row(!) – in the years 2014-24, it was a kind of disappointment. This is hardly surprising, after all, the hammer thrower competed on the facility that… bears his name. Which only shows how big of a figure we are talking about in the case of an athlete born in 1989.

However, the athlete had to fight to return not only to normal sports activities, but also to normality in life outside the hammer throwing circle and regular training. Nowicki suffered from problems with dying muscles in his thigh. The situation was really dangerous. The Olympic champion returned, but unfortunately it was not enough to successfully compete at the European Championship 2026.

Paweł Fajdek took part in the hammer throw final in Birmingham. The Pole’s result of 77.35 m gave him 5th place. It seems that Fajdek is ready to fight for a medal during Tuesday’s (August 11) final.