The Polish men's 4x400-meter relay team finished sixth in the final at the European Athletics Championships in Birmingham on Sunday, recording a season-best time of 3:00.56.
Italy won the championship title in 2:59.16, ahead of Great Britain, who took second place in a season-best 2:59.19. The Netherlands finished third to take the bronze medal in 2:59.49.
The final race, which started at 10:48 p.m. Polish time, featured a lineup change for Poland. Maksymilian Szwed was brought into the squad to replace Remigiusz Zazula, joining Wiktor Wróbel, Marcin Karolewski and Kajetan Duszyński, who had all run in the preliminary heat.
Final race progression
Szwed ran the opening leg for Poland, pushing for position before the runners broke from their lanes. Wróbel took the baton for the second leg in sixth place at the break and set off in pursuit of the Hungarian team.
On the third leg, Karolewski faced track interference when competitors from the previous leg crossed into his path. The obstacle dropped Poland to seventh position, though Karolewski managed to close ground on the field ahead.
Duszyński took the baton for the final leg and pushed to gain ground, elevating Poland to sixth place at the finish line, though the lead runners remained out of reach.
Dramatics in heat qualification
Poland's appearance in the final came after a sudden turn of events in the semi-finals. The team had initially finished fourth in their heat with a time of 3:01.33, then a season best, leaving them ninth overall and 0.2 seconds short of initial qualification.
During a live post-race interview with TVP Sport, the Polish runners were informed that France had been disqualified after one of their athletes stepped on the line. The ruling promoted Poland into the final, as reported by Sport.pl.
Other Polish results in Birmingham
The European Athletics Championships, held biennially, bring together top track and field athletes from across Europe. At the Alexander Stadium venue in Birmingham, England, Poland experienced a mix of narrow misses and unexpected fortunes.
Earlier in the championships, hurdles runner Pia Skrzyszowska missed out on the gold medal in the women's 100-meter hurdles by 0.001 seconds. In the men's javelin throw, Dawid Wegner missed a medal by a margin of 1 centimeter.
