 Jakub Krzewina at the2018 IAAF World Indoor Championships | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1989-10-10)10 October 1989 (age 36) Kruszwica, Poland |
| Height | 1.82 m (6 ft 0 in)[1] |
| Weight | 79 kg (174 lb) |
| Sport | |
| Club | WKS Śląsk Wrocław[2] |
| Coached by | Józef Lisowski Marek Adamek |
Medal record | |
Jakub Krzewina (Polish pronunciation:[ˈjakub kʂɛˈvina]; born 10 October 1989) is a Polishtrack and fieldsprinter who specialises in the400 metres. A frequent competitor for Poland in the4 × 400 metres relay, he has won two medals at theEuropean Athletics Championships and reached the final at the2016 Summer Olympics. He was also a relay silver medallist with Europe at the2014 IAAF Continental Cup.
He has a personal best of 45.11 seconds for the distance. His best individual finish is fourth at theEuropean Athletics Championships in 2014.
Krzewina was born on 10 October 1989 inKruszwica, Poland.[3][4]
Krzewina appeared on the national junior scene in 2007, placing third at the national junior championships in the 400 metres. He dipped under 48 seconds in the event for the first time that year. He won his first international selection at the2007 European Athletics Junior Championships as part of Poland's4 × 400 metres relay team. The team (includingJan Ciepiela,Sebastian Porzadny, andMarcin Klaczanski) reached the final, but was disqualified.[5] His first individual international race came the year after at the2008 World Junior Championships in Athletics, but he failed to progress beyond the heats.[6] He was again chosen for the relay and he helped a team ofArkadiusz Wojno,Michał Pietrzak, andRafał Omelko take fifth in the final. The 2009 season marked a career progression as he won the Polish under-23 title with a personal best of 46.66 seconds. He also won a relay gold medal at the2009 European Athletics U23 Championships, running alongsideMarcin Sobiech, Pietrzak, and Ciepiela.[5]
Krzewina missed most of the 2010 season but returned in 2011 and made his first impact at the senior level. He anchored the Polish 4 × 400 m relay team at the2011 European Athletics Indoor Championships, taking the team to fifth place. The team attempted to defend their title at the2011 European Athletics U23 Championships, but were pipped to the gold by a tenth of a second by the British team.[5] At thePolish Athletics Championships he placed fourth in the 400 m with a new best of 46.51 seconds.[4] This earned his global senior debut at the2011 World Championships in Athletics,[7] where the Polish team ofKacper Kozłowski,Piotr Wiaderek, Krzewina andMarcin Marciniszyn ran in the relay. The team finished their heat in 3:01.84 minutes (the fastest for the country that year and of Krzewina's career) but this was not enough to make the final.[5]
He began 2012 in peak form, setting an indoor best of 46.85 seconds then winning his first national title at thePolish Indoor Athletics Championships.[8] An appearance at the2012 IAAF World Indoor Championships followed but the team faltered in therelay final and came in sixth (last) place. He achieved a season's best of 46.55 seconds outdoors, but did not compete internationally as a poor performance at the national championships meant he was excluded from the relay team thatcompeted at the 2012 Olympics.[5] He performances declined further in 2013, having only a seventh place finish nationally.[4]
Krzewina improved at the start of 2014 with an indoor best of 46.54 seconds to finish as runner-up at the national championships. He anchored a team of Kozłowski, Omelko and Pietrzak to take Poland to fourth place in the4 × 400 m relay final at the2014 IAAF World Indoor Championships on home turf inSopot (Krzewina's highest global finish at that point). He opened the outdoor season with a big personal best of 45.11 seconds.[9] This marked ranked him fourth in the European rankings for that season.[10] He repeated that time at the Polish Championships to claim his first national outdoor title in the 400 metres.[4] He was chosen for both the individual and relay events at the2014 European Athletics Championships. In his solo senior debut for Poland he reached the400 m final and finished in fourth place, just behind Israel'sDonald Sanford.[11] Having missed the heats, he was drafted in as the last man for the Polish team in the4 × 400 m relay final. Starting his leg in fourth place, he narrowly overhauledThomas Jordier in the final straight to win the bronze medals for Poland (setting a personal relay best of 2:59.85 minutes in the process).[12] His fourth in the individual event led to his inclusion on the European relay team for the2014 IAAF Continental Cup and (teaming up with European rivalsConrad Williams, Sanford, andMartyn Rooney) he helped the team to silver behind the African team.[13]
Krzewina and his teammates qualified to the4 × 400 metres relay final at the2016 Summer Olympics inRio de Janeiro, Brazil.
The Polish quartet ofKarol Zalewski,Rafał Omelko,Łukasz Krawczuk and Krzewina broke the world indoor record in the men's 4 × 400 m with a stunning finish to the final track event of the2018 World Indoor Championships in Birmingham. On the last straight, Krzewina overtook the anchor of the American team, which lead from the start, and achieved the greatest success in his career.[14]
In October 2022, Krzewina was issued with a 15-month ban backdated set to expire in December 2023 for an anti-doping rule violation for whereabouts failures.[15]
1Disqualified in the final
European Athletics U23 Championships champions in men's4 × 400 metres relay | |
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† denotes athletes who took part in heats only |
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| People | |
