The Diamond League meeting in the Silesian Stadium was the second best athletics meeting in the world in 2023. What is more, in the last five years, the only events with higher World Athletics rankings were the finals of the series, which naturally feature the top stars. This time, the season finale took place in Eugene. Its conclusion is a good opportunity to sum up the summer of 2023 in Silesia, as well as to take a look into the future. Tickets to the 15th edition of the Silesia Kamila Skolimowska Memorial are already available for purchase.
The final Diamond League event in Eugene effectively ended the global athletics summer season. The competition in Oregon, the host of last year's World Championships, featured the very best, those with the highest number of points accumulated during the season. One of the thirteen regular Diamond League meetings was the Silesia Kamila Skolimowska Memorial. The competition dedicated to the memory of the Olympic champion from Sydney was the clear number one among them.
– We can all breathe a sigh of relief now that we know no one apart from the final in Eugene has overtaken us. The World Athletics ranking, appraising both the quality of entries and the results achieved, gives a clear indication: excluding the Diamond League finals, we organized the best athletics meeting in the world since 2018 in Silesia. It gives us a sense of pride - said the joyous Piotr Małachowski, sports director of the meeting.
The point score achieved by the event in the Silesian Stadium was bettered only by the final in Eugene. The latter reached the all-time highest score, as stated by World Athletics. The event in the US featured, among others, a world record in the pole vault by Armand Duplantis (6.23). The mark was one of seven global records set during this year's Diamond League season. This summer's series was an exceptional one, with 36 area records, 65 world-leading marks and 87 national records set. Silesia played an important part. The Polish meeting ranked ahead of classic events such as London, Monaco, Lausanne, Zurich and Paris. All of them have been a part of the League since outset, while "Kama" made its debut only last year.
– Two current world-leading performances were set at our meeting, set by Jakob Ingebrigtsen at 1500 metres and Mutaz Essa Barshim in the high jump. Those results would have guaranteed gold at the World Championships in Budapest. There is no better evidence of the quality of the event. The meeting had 25 thousand spectators. Of all the Diamond League competitions, only London and Brussels had larger audiences. Poles love athletics and top-quality sports. And that is what we offer them in Silesia - stated the communications director Marek Plawgo, adding that more evidence was provided on 16 July by two Polish track stars, Natalia Kaczmarek in the 400m and Ewa Swoboda in the 100m, setting new PBs. Both broke important barriers for the first time in their careers in the Silesian Stadium. Kaczmarek's run was the fastest by a Polish runner in 47 years.
– There is no better place to do this - said Swoboda, who was born in Silesia and is an ambassador of the region.
It is more than just local patriotism. In a survey conducted in the stands, the fans confirmed that the Silesia Kamila Skolimowska Memorial is among the best at both organisational and sporting level. The opinion was shared by the athletes, who gave the event an average rating of 9.16 on a scale of 1 to 10. A rating above 9 points means an event is considered excellent.
– Every year in stadiums around the world I hear Silesia - that is the name we are known under - has become a point of reference for other events of the same type. It is an honour, but also a challenge to maintain the same high level. It was also for that reason that Eugene was important to us, as we were able to talk to the top stars. The participants' names for next year's edition of the Polish Diamond League will be announced in due course, but what I can say is the fans will surely not be disappointed - Małachowski assured.
Based on his experience, the Olympic runner-up in the discus throw predicts the grapevine will make it easier to talk with the global athletics stars and encourage more top names to come to Poland. Suffice to say the last edition featured 17 athletes who went on to take world titles in Budapest. In 18 of the 19 events, World Championships medalists-to-be could be seen. As it turns out after Eugene, eight eventual winners of the Diamond League were there for the fans to see.
– Who knows, maybe one day we can play host to the final? That is certainly one dream we have for the coming years. Our biggest goal is to have the Silesian Stadium filled to capacity. The athletes deserve it. The event is worth having these aspirations - said Plawgo, communications director of "Kama".
The next step towards what may be another record-breaking Silesia Diamond League will be taken by the organisers on 25 August 2024. That will be the date of the 15th edition of the Silesia Kamila Skolimowska Memorial.Significantly, the competition will be back to a time slot following the main focus point of the season, the Olympic Games in Paris. The tickets to the event are already available for purchase. They can be obtained at eBilet.pl. The news related to the meeting may be followed on the social media platforms: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and TikTok.
