WORLD DEAF ATHLETICS CHAMPIONSHIPS

For the first time in history, the Warsaw Marathon is the scene of competition for the world championships, where male and female participants, the members of the International Deaf Sports Federation (IDSF) will compete for medals in the marathon.

The World Deaf Athletics Championships take place every four years and for the first time this event was held in 2008 in Izmir, Turkey. After events in Toronto, Canada and Stara Zagora, Bulgaria, Poland became a host for the 2020 Championships. Due to the pandemic, the event was moved to 2021 with Lublin as a stadium host.

Five years ago, during the championships in Bulgaria, Japan’s Toshiyuki Yoshida and Germany’s Nele Alder-Baerens won gold medals in the marathon. Alder-Baerens will be defending her title in Warsaw.

Poland will be represented by six athletes: Tomasz Gawroński, Tomasz Pick and Rafal Nowak as well as Małgorzata Mejka, Agata Kosztowny and Monika Nowak. Tomasz Gawroński is the current bronze medallist at the European Championships in the marathon. The world record holder of the deaf in marathon is a Kenyan athlete Daniel Kiptum, who in 2011 covered the distance of 42.195 K in 2.11.31. The record in the women’s competition belongs to the German athlete Nele Alder-Baerens, who eight years ago covered this distance in 2.46.07. Nele is, by the way, one of the best deaf athletes in history, a two-time gold medalist at the Deaflympics.