On Sunday in Chorzow the 67th Kusociñski Memorial was played. The 800 meter run turned out to be the biggest event. Amazing won Patryk Dobek.
The competitor, who a few months ago was a 400-meter hurdler, achieved the time of 1: 43.73, i.e. by 1.03 s he broke his life record and – which is even more imaginative – set the best result in the world this season.
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Patryk Dobek with the gold medal in the 800 meters run. “What have I done here”
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He finished only in 13th place Adam Kszczot. Also with his best result of the season. But the time 1: 47.20 could not satisfy him in any way. This result gives the six-time European champion (three titles in the stadium and three in the hall) only 198th place on the world lists.
In an interview with journalists, Kszczot admits that at the end of the race he even let go, seeing that his time at best would start at 1:46, which is no result for him. Why is a multimedia player of great events in such poor disposition just before the Olympics? And is there any hope to seize, thinking what will go to Such and about a successful start?
Why, one month before the Olympic Games in Tokyo, are you not running like you want to?
Adam Kszczot: This season I did everything I could. Everything, absolutely. I went to Kenya, I went to Font-Romeu, places I didn’t really want to go to. I returned to Zakopane, to the altitude center. There I trained in the height simulation and my blood improved significantly, but – unfortunately – Kenya and then the vaccination took me about a month to prepare. I’ve tried everything, I’ve done what I could, and now I have to talk to the coach and my loved ones and we’ll see what happens next. Soon the Polish championship and theoretically a trip to the training camp before the Olympics. But we will see. There are days when your training is going exceptionally well and everything should be fine, and there are days when it is completely not going. The form is leaps and bounds. It happens after training in the mountains. Only time and rest can help. Everything is in my feet, I have done everything.
But time is short. One month left to the Olympics. That’s why you are concerned?
– I can say that I am devastated. No way. Years of experience keep me upright. The preparations were long and difficult, and the effect is not satisfactory and it is difficult to say what will happen next.
Did you say you need to talk to the coach – who did you mean?
– Piotr Rostkowski.
So you have definitely parted with Tomasz Lewandowski?
– Unfortunately, the world led our fate so strangely that we broke up. We did a good job in the hall. I achieved my third career result [w lutym w Toruniu uzyska³ 1:45.22 – to by³ szósty wynik na ¶wiecie w sezonie halowym]. This season has been very uneven for various reasons, despite the excellent preparation. Mainly for private reasons. But life goes on, the sun shines, rises in the east, if I remember correctly, and it goes on in the west – life is still beautiful.
But it wasn’t like, when you finished working with coach Lewandowski, you closed the book with coach Rostkowski and started working differently?
– No, everything is consistent, coach Rostkowski has been participating in creating plans for Marcin Lewandowski for many years and is well aware of what training I was conducting. He got a training diary with my very rich description of what Mr. Król probably does not know and never wrote down [Zbigniew Król prowadzi³ Kszczota przez siedem lat, panowie rozstali siê po M¦ Doha 2019]. There is a very, very rich description. The trainer had all the necessary things and the training was well done. Maybe the places weren’t quite well chosen for me. But when, if not now, should I try the high mountains that work wonders for 90 percent of runners?
Why didn’t you really want to go to these mountains?
– All my life I didn’t want to. I train hard in the mountains. After that, the form is often erratic, it can block me for two months. Now two months have now passed after Kenya. But there was also an unexpected thing – a vaccination to which I reacted badly. I had two weeks without training.
I am asking you to be honest: you said “possible training camp before the games” – does it mean that you set yourself a final goal that you must achieve to see the sense of going to this training camp?
– There are five minimums for three places for Poland. They are Lewandowski [1:44.31 w bie¿±cym sezonie], Kszczot [1:47.20], Borkowski [1:44.85], Dobek [1:43.73] i Ró¿nicki [1:44.51]. That is five people and three places [teoretycznie nominacje mo¿e dostaæ trzech najszybszych zawodników na MP w Poznaniu, które odbêd± siê za kilka dni. Ale mo¿liwe, ¿e Ró¿nicki, który nie ma jeszcze nawet 18 lat, na igrzyska nie zostanie wys³any, bo jego trener nie jest przekonany, ¿e to dobry pomys³. Mo¿liwe te¿, ¿e 800 metrów w Tokio nie bêdzie chcia³ biegaæ szykuj±cy siê do 1500 m Lewandowski – Marcin mówi, ¿e w sprawie 800 m zdecyduje dopiero w Tokio].
But do you require yourself to run for a certain result so that you would see the sense of going to Tokyo?
– I would love to run at least 1:44. My ambitions always pushed me to run faster, better, and it worked. This year I did what I could, and what will happen next? The honest answer is, I don’t know.
I have to ask you, as a professor from 800 meters, about Patryk Dobek – are you surprised that he makes such a sensation?
– A few years ago I talked to Patryk and he suggested that he might try 800 meters. I encouraged him to do so. It is fun to run. He has run great results this season. I can wish him to run like that as long as possible.
There is Dobek, followed by other strong, even younger Poles – Ró¿nicki, Borkowski.
– And fantastic! Much good for me and I hope much good for me. The joy is great that they are successors. Competitors from all over Europe, who are celebrating their first successes, come and say: “Adam, whole life you were my idol, today we are racing, I made my first result and thanks to you”. This is proof that many years of good work have brought a lot of good fruit in the form of our really hellishly strong middle runs in Europe. This level is constantly improving and that is fantastic.
Ł ukasz Jachimiak spoke and took notes
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