Lucyna Kałek (née Langer, born 9 January 1956) is a retired
Polish
Polish may refer to:
* Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe
* Polish language
* Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent
* Polish chicken
*Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...
hurdler. The highlights of her career in the
100 metres hurdles
The 100 metres hurdles, or 100-meter hurdles, is a track and field event run mainly by women (the male counterpart is the 110 metres hurdles). For the race, ten Hurdling, hurdles of a height of are placed along a straight course of . The first h ...
were winning the 1980 Olympic bronze medal and the gold medal at the
1982 European Championships. She also won the
1984 European Indoor Championships 60 metres hurdles
60 metres hurdles is a distance in hurdling which is generally run in indoor competitions. It is equivalent with the first 5 hurdles of a standard outdoor hurdle race. The current women's and men's world records are 7.68 seconds ( Susanna K ...
title and was the fastest 100 metres hurdler in the world in 1984, with her career-best time of 12.43 secs.
Career
Born in
Mysłowice, Langer first ran under 13 seconds for the 100 metres hurdles with 12.89 secs in 1978, improving to 12.62 in 1979, when winning the
Universiade title in Mexico City. When her Polish team-mate
Grażyna Rabsztyn
Grażyna Józefa Rabsztyn (; born September 20, 1952 in Wrocław) is a retired Polish hurdler. She represented her country at the Summer Olympics on three occasions (1972–1980) and was a finalist each time (twice placing fifth).
Rabsztyn set ...
broke the world record with 12.36 secs in June 1980, Langer finished second in 12.44, to move to second on the world all-time list. She would go on to win an Olympic bronze medal six weeks later in Moscow, running 12.65.
In 1981 she beat American Stephanie Hightower, in the IAAF Golden Meet 100 hurdles in Berlin, in a time of 12.91
As Lucyna Kalek, she won the 1982 European title in Athens, in a season's best of 12.45 secs. The only woman to go faster that year was
Yordanka Donkova
Yordanka Donkova ( bg, Йорданка Донкова) (born 28 September 1961) is a Bulgarian former hurdling athlete, notable for winning an Olympic gold medal and bronze medal as well as nine medals at European indoor and outdoor c ...
with 12.44. Langer defeated Donkova in Athens and was ranked number one on the 1982
Track and Field News
''Track & Field News'' is an American monthly sports magazine founded in 1948 by brothers Bert Nelson and Cordner Nelson, focused on the world of track and field
Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on runni ...
world merit rankings. She would go on to rank number one on the 1984 Track and Field News merit rankings. 1984 also saw her slightly improve her best to 12.43 secs in Hanover on 19 August, the fastest 100 metres hurdles time in the world that year, and a time that still ranks her (as of 2018) in the all-time top 20.
International competitions
1Representing Europe
References
External links
*
*
European Championships
People from Mysłowice
1956 births
Living people
Polish female hurdlers
Athletes (track and field) at the 1980 Summer Olympics
Olympic athletes for Poland
Olympic bronze medalists in athletics (track and field)
European Athletics Championships medalists
Athletes from Silesian Voivodeship
Medalists at the 1980 Summer Olympics
Olympic bronze medalists for Poland
Universiade medalists in athletics (track and field)
FISU World University Games gold medalists for Poland
Friendship Games medalists in athletics
Polish Athletics Championships winners
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