Natalia Kaczmarek, multiple European Championship medalist and world runner-up, wins in Paris his third Olympic medal. Three years ago in Tokyo, she won gold in the mixed relay and silver in the relay.
This year, Kaczmarek twice broke Irena Szewińska’s Polish record of 48. First, she improved it to 48.98 in Rome, where she became European champion, and then improved it to 48.90 at the Diamond League meeting in Rome.
In Paris, Kaczmarek followed in Szewińska’s footsteps by winning an Olympic medal in the 400 m individual race. Szewińska had triumphed in this distance in 1976 in Montreal.
Natalia Kaczmarek won Poland’s 67th medal in athletics and 305th overall at the Summer Olympics.
In this discipline, the whites and reds climb the podium more frequently – they won 29 gold medals, 20 silver medals and 18 bronze medals.
Boxers are in second place with 43 medals (8-9-26) (Julia Szeremeta, who will contest the final, will add to her achievements on Saturday), and weightlifting is in third – 34 medals, including six of the most valuable metal.
The total haul of 305 medals across 21 disciplines includes 73 gold, 90 silver and 142 bronze.
1. Marileidy Paulino (Dominican Republic) 48.17 pp
2. Salwa Eid Nasser (Bahrain) 48.53
3. Natalia Kaczmarek (Poland) 48.98
4. Rhasidat Adeleke (Ireland) 49.28
5. Amber Anning (UK) 49.29
6. Alexis Holmes (USA) 49.77
7. Sada Williams (Barbados) 49.83
8. Henriette Jaeger (Norway) 49.96
…
25. Justyna Święta-Ersetic (Poland) was eliminated in the repechage
