Paweł Fajdek (Polish pronunciation: ; born 4 June 1989) is a Polish

hammer throw The hammer throw is one of the four throwing events in regular track and field competitions, along with the discus throw, shot put and javelin. The "hammer" used in this sport is not like any of the tools also called by that name. It consis ...

er, a five-time

World Champion A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

, European Champion, Olympic bronze medal winner, multiple Polish Champion and Polish men's hammer throw record holder. In 2013, he became the youngest world champion in the event. His personal best throw of 83.93 metres was achieved on 9 August 2015 at the

Janusz Kusociński Memorial The Janusz Kusociński Memorial (Polish: ''Memoriał Janusza Kusocińskiego'') is an annual track and field meeting at different venues in Poland, in recent times at the Silesian Stadium in Chorzów, Poland. The meeting was first held in 1954 i ...

Szczecin Szczecin (, , german: Stettin ; sv, Stettin ; Latin: ''Sedinum'' or ''Stetinum'') is the capital and largest city of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship in northwestern Poland. Located near the Baltic Sea and the German border, it is a major s ...

Career

Fajdek represented Poland at the 2008 World Junior Championships in

Bydgoszcz Bydgoszcz ( , , ; german: Bromberg) is a city in northern Poland, straddling the meeting of the River Vistula with its left-bank tributary, the Brda. With a city population of 339,053 as of December 2021 and an urban agglomeration with more ...

, finishing just off the podium in 4th despite throwing a new Polish junior record of 75.31 metres with the 6 kg under-20 implement. In 2009, his first year as a senior, Fajdek placed 8th at the European U23 Championships in

Kaunas Kaunas (; ; also see other names) is the second-largest city in Lithuania after Vilnius and an important centre of Lithuanian economic, academic, and cultural life. Kaunas was the largest city and the centre of a county in the Duchy of Trakai ...

Lithuania Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...

with a throw of 68.70 metres. Fajdek placed 3rd at the Polish Championships that year with a mark of 70.86, behind former Olympic and World Champion

Szymon Ziółkowski Szymon Jerzy Ziółkowski (; born 1 July 1976 in Poznań) is a retired Poland, Polish hammer thrower and an Olympic Games, Olympic gold medal winner from 2000 Summer Olympics, Sydney 2000. He also won a gold medal at the 2001 World Championship ...

and a returning

Wojciech Kondratowicz Wojciech Kondratowicz (born 18 April 1980) is a male hammer thrower from Poland. He set his personal best (81.35 metres) on 13 July 2003 in Bydgoszcz Bydgoszcz ( , , ; german: Bromberg) is a city in northern Poland, straddling the meeting of ...

. In 2010 he grabbed another national bronze, this time with a throw of 73.85 metres; later that year, he improved his personal best to 76.07, good enough for 35th in the world. Fajdek continued to improve in 2011, finishing second at the

European Team Championships European Team Championships is the name of the team sports competition between European countries organized by various European sports federations. May refer to: * European Athletics Team Championships, former European Team Championships (ETC), ath ...

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

with a new personal best of 76.98 metres. He improved further to 78.13 at

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

, beating among others the reigning Olympic Champion,

Primož Kozmus Primož Kozmus (born 30 September 1979 in Novo Mesto) is a Slovenian hammer thrower. His gold medals in the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing and the 2009 World Championships in Berlin made him the first ever Slovenian athlete to win both titles. ...

of Slovenia. He was an overwhelming winner at the European U23 Championships in

Ostrava Ostrava (; pl, Ostrawa; german: Ostrau ) is a city in the north-east of the Czech Republic, and the capital of the Moravian-Silesian Region. It has about 280,000 inhabitants. It lies from the border with Poland, at the confluences of four rive ...

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

, beating second placer Javier Cienfuegos by five and a half metres to record yet another personal best of 78.54. He also dominated his speciality at the

World University Games The Universiade is an international multi-sport event, organized for university athletes by the International University Sports Federation (FISU). The name is a portmanteau of the words "University" and "Olympiad". The Universiade is referred t ...

Shenzhen Shenzhen (; ; ; ), also historically known as Sham Chun, is a major sub-provincial city and one of the special economic zones of China. The city is located on the east bank of the Pearl River estuary on the central coast of southern province ...

, winning the gold with 78.14, more than four metres ahead of silver medallist Marcel Lomnický; a week later at the

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

Daegu Daegu (, , literally 'large hill', 대구광역시), formerly spelled Taegu and officially known as the Daegu Metropolitan City, is a city in South Korea. It is the third-largest urban agglomeration in South Korea after Seoul and Busan; it is ...

, however, he only managed 75.20 and finished eleventh. Fajdek first broke 80 metres at the

Golden Spike The golden spike (also known as The Last Spike) is the ceremonial 17.6-karat gold final spike driven by Leland Stanford to join the rails of the first transcontinental railroad across the United States connecting the Central Pacific Railroad ...

meeting in May 2012, finishing second to

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

's World silver medallist

Krisztián Pars Krisztián Pars (; born 18 February 1982) is a Hungarian hammer thrower. He competed at the Summer Olympics in 2004, 2008, and 2012, winning the gold medal in 2012. He also won the 2012 and 2014 European championships. Career His personal be ...

. In his next competition at Montreuil he threw yet another personal best of 81.39, this time beating Pars. Fajdek is currently coached by Czesław Cybulski, who has also coached Ziółkowski and

Anita Włodarczyk Anita Włodarczyk (; born 8 August 1985) is a Polish hammer thrower. She is the 2012, 2016 and 2020 Olympic champion, and the first woman in history to throw the hammer over 80 m; she currently holds the women's world record of 82.98 m. She is co ...

. At the

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...

, he won his first Olympic medal (bronze) in the men's hammer throw by achieving 81.53 meters, finishing behind

Wojciech Nowicki Wojciech Nowicki (; born 22 February 1989) is a Polish hammer thrower. He won the gold medal at the 2020 Summer Olympics and bronze medals at the 2016 Summer Olympics, 2015, 2017 and 2019 World Championships. His personal best in the event is 82 ...

and

Eivind Henriksen Eivind Henriksen (born 14 September 1990) is a Norwegian athlete. He was born in Oslo. Henriksen won the silver medal at the 2020 Summer Olympics in the hammer throw event, and also qualified for and competed at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London ...

. In 2022, by winning gold medal at the

2022 World Athletics Championships The 2022 World Athletics Championships was the eighteenth edition of the World Athletics Championships. It was held at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon, United States, from July 15–24, 2022, with the country hosting that competition for the f ...

with the result of 81.98 meters, Fajdek became only the second athlete in history to win five back-to-back gold medals at the event, after pole vaulter

Sergey Bubka Sergey Nazarovych Bubka ( uk, Сергій Назарович Бубка; born 4 December 1963) is a Ukrainian former pole vaulter. He represented the Soviet Union until its dissolution in 1991. Bubka was twice named Athlete of the Year by ''Tr ...

, who eventually won six consecutive titles.

Competition record

References

External links

* *
Paweł Fajdek
at the ''Polski Związek Lekkiej Atletyki'' * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Fajdek, Pawel 1989 births Living people People from Świebodzice Polish male hammer throwers Athletes (track and field) at the 2012 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes of Poland Sportspeople from Lower Silesian Voivodeship World Athletics Championships athletes for Poland World Athletics Championships medalists Articles containing video clips European Athletics Championships medalists Universiade medalists in athletics (track and field) Universiade gold medalists for Poland World Athletics Championships winners Medalists at the 2011 Summer Universiade Medalists at the 2013 Summer Universiade Medalists at the 2015 Summer Universiade Medalists at the 2017 Summer Universiade Athletes (track and field) at the 2020 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic bronze medalists for Poland Olympic bronze medalists in athletics (track and field) 20th-century Polish men 21st-century Polish men