Anna Ficner defended her European Tower Running Championship title at Rondo 1 in Warsaw, Poland on Saturday.
The 2016 European champion put in a dominant first round run of 4:28.3 up the 38 floors of Rondo 1 to create a big lead over the rest of the field. Fellow Polish athletes Iwona Januszyk (4:48.8) and Iwona Wicha (5:08.2) followed, with Czech runner Adela Vorackova just back in 5:09.8.
After a mere 10-minute rest, the athletes set off on their second runs. The total of the two runs would be combined to determine the overall winner.
With a 20-second lead already established in the first run, it would have taken a completely disastrous second run from Ficner to lose top spot.
The 37-year old, who had already won three times previously at Rondo 1, was not to be halted.
Iwona Januszyk, Anna Ficner and Adela Vorackova (photo: Bartłomiej Zborowski)
Januszyk clocked the fastest time in the second run (5:15.06), but Ficner kept well within touching distance, finishing just slightly slower in 5:16.98).
Ficner’s total time across the two runs of 9:45.01 was comfortably ahead of Januszyk’s 10:03.14.
In the battle for third place, the quick back-to-back runs took an impact on Iwona Wicha. The experienced Pole dropped time in the second round and was unable to hold onto her spot on the podium.
Vorackova spoiled the home town’s hopes of an all-Polish podium, taking third with her total of 10:37.01, ahead of Wicha’s 10:42.40.
Kacper Mrowiec got back to winning ways last weekend at the Świdnicki Bieg na Wieżę Ratuszową (Swidnica Run to the Town Hall Tower) in Poland.
It was the seventh edition of the race, which begins with a loop around Swidnica market square (approx. 400m), followed by a sprint up 222 stairs to the top of the town hall tower.
Mrowiec completed the event in 1:57, edging out the 2018 winner Bartłomiej Wojsław who finished in 1:59.
2017 and 2019 champion Mateusz Zalewski (2:05) was kept off the podium by Konrad Dzierżonowski (2:04).
The market square and tower in Swidnica, Poland
In the women’s division, Katarzyna Budziszewska smashed the course record by 10 seconds with her 2:18 finish.
The Polish tower running season gets back underway tomorrow (Saturday 22 August) with a highly-anticipated sprint clash at the PAST building in Warsaw involving some of the country’s best stair runners.
It’s the seventh edition of ‘The Conquest Run’, which is held as part of commemoration events to remember the heroes of the Polish resistance that took part in the Warsaw Uprising of 1944.
At just nine floors, the race is one of the shortest tower runs in the world. The course record is a mere 34 seconds.
The event begins with a qualifying round, after which the top 10 fastest men and women compete in a final round to determine the winner.
Two-time winner (2017-18) and course record holder Adrian Bednarski will be racing. He’s never finished lower than second place in the four times he’s competed at PAST, so will be among the key men to watch on Saturday.
Adrian Bednarski celebrates his win at the Reichenbacher Treppenlauf in 2019
Bednarski is a sprint specialist with multiple short-course wins under his belt. These include three wins at the 180-step Senftenberger See Turmlauf, plus victory in 2019 at the 190-step Reichenbacher Treppenlauf, both in Germany.
Expect to see Bednarksi back on the podium again.
Among those looking to defeat Bednarski will be one of the emerging stars of Polish tower running, Kacper Mrowiec, who will be making his debut at the race.
‘It’s the shortest tower run race I will have ever run’, said Mrowiec. ‘I feel my preparation is really good, but because of the short distance, just 9 floors, it’s not sure that the winner will be a tower runner.’
‘The winner could be a sprinter from track like Daniel Żochowski, who last time ran 15:03 for 5km and will take part in this competition. In a longer race – e.g 20 or 30 floors – probably I and Mateusz Marunowski should fight for the win, but the short distance makes the situation less obvious.’
‘Last time I competed with Matuesz on Oliva Star in Gdańsk when he won by just 0.15s on 34 floors! Before it, at Rondo 1, he beat me with an advantage of only 0.72s. I hope that tomorrow will be my first victory against him.’
‘After this race I will start preparing for autumn starts – stairs and track. I hope so that Bieg Zdobycia Past-y wont be my only tower run race – I have plans to race at Pyramidekogel [in Austria] and in Cologne.’
Another debutant hoping to be in among the podium finishers is Mateusz Marunowski.
The firefighter from Jaworzno should be a familiar name to tower running fans. He has achieved multiple wins and podium placings over the last few years, including back-to-back wins at the competitive SkyRun Munster in Germany (2017-2018), as well as taking second behind Piotr Lobodzinski at the Intercontinental Tower Run in Warsaw last September.
Mateusz Marunowski
Marunowski’s pedigree over slightly longer courses is well established, but how he will fare in a flat out sprint is yet to be seen.
Another name you can expect to see in the mix on Saturday is Daniel Koszykowski.
Seventh in the Polish championships last year and third behind Lobodzinski and Marunowski at the Intercontinental Tower Run, Koszykowski is an emerging talent.
The super-short race distance levels things out massively, so expect Koszykowski to launch a more formidable challenge than he might over a longer race.
He gave an interview back in March to Telewizja Echo24 (in Polish), which you can watch below. A written interview in English is available here.
2019 champion Rafal Hazan is not expected to be in attendance (although may be a late entry).
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