Marika Popowicz-Drapała (Polish pronunciation: ; born 28 April 1988) is a Polish

track and field Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes Competition#Sports, athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a ru ...

sprinter. She won bronze medals in the

100 metres The 100 metres, or 100-meter dash, is a sprint race in track and field competitions. The shortest common outdoor running distance, the dash is one of the most popular and prestigious events in the sport of athletics. It has been contested at ...

and

200 metres The 200 metres, or 200-meter dash, is a sprint running event. On an outdoor 400-metre racetrack, the race begins on the curve and ends on the home straight, so a combination of techniques is needed to successfully run the race. A slight ...

at the 2009 European Under-23 Championships. Popowicz-Drapała earned several major medals as part of Poland's women's relays (mostly

4 x 100 metres relay 4 (four) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 3 and preceding 5. It is a square number, the smallest semiprime and composite number, and is considered unlucky in many East Asian cultures. Evolution of the Hi ...

s). She earned 15 individual Polish national titles.

Personal life

Marika Popowicz-Drapała was born 28 April 1988 in

Gniezno Gniezno (; ; ) is a city in central-western Poland, about east of Poznań. Its population in 2021 was 66,769, making it the sixth-largest city in the Greater Poland Voivodeship. The city is the administrative seat of Gniezno County (''powiat'') ...

, Poland. She is married to a former sprinter, Radosław Drapała.

Career

2005 to 2008

Popowicz-Drapała made her first major appearances in 2005, finishing in sixth place in the

at the

2005 World Youth Championships in Athletics The 2005 IAAF World Youth Championships in Athletics, World Youth Championships in Athletics were held in Marrakesh, Morocco on July 13–July 17. The host stadium was Stade Sidi Youssef Ben Ali. The boy's 400 metres hurdles event was initially w ...

and helping the Polish women's 4×100 metres relay team to a gold medal at the

2005 European Athletics Junior Championships The 2005 European Athletics Junior Championships was the 18th edition of the biennial athletics competition for European under-20 athletes, which was held in Kaunas, Lithuania on 21–24 July. Medal summary Men Women Medal table References ...

. She became the Polish junior champion in the

and 200 m in 2006 and went on to reach the semi-finals of both events at the

2006 World Junior Championships in Athletics The 2006 World Junior Championships in Athletics is the 2006 version of the World Junior Championships in Athletics. It was held from 15 August to 20 August at the Chaoyang Sports Centre in Beijing, the capital of the People's Republic of China ...

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

. She attended the

2007 European Athletics Junior Championships The 19th European Athletics Junior Championships were held between 19 and 22 July 2007 at the FBK-Stadium in Hengelo Hengelo (; Tweants dialect, Tweants: ) is a city in the eastern part of the Netherlands, in the Twente region, in the provinc ...

and formed part of the relay team which won the bronze medal. She was selected as a back-up runner for the

2007 World Championships in Athletics The 11th World Championships in Athletics, () under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), were held at Nagai Stadium in Osaka, Japan from 24 August to 2 September 2007. 200 of the IAAF's 212 member feder ...

, but ultimately did not compete.

2009

Popowicz-Drapała won senior medals for the first time in 2009 at an

International Military Sports Council The International Military Sports Council (IMSC; , CISM) is an international sports association, established in 1948 and headquartered in Brussels. It is the world's second-largest multi-discipline sports organisation, after the International Ol ...

competition: she won the bronze in the 100 m and silver in the 200 m behind Marta Jeschke at the 2009 World Military Track and Field Championship . Representing Poland at the

2009 European Team Championships The first European Athletics Team Championships took place on 20 and 21 June 2009. The track and field athletics tournament run by European Athletics was the successor of the old European Cup (athletics), European Cup competition which was held a ...

, she finished fifth overall in the 100 m. She won a relay silver medal with the Polish team at the

2009 Summer Universiade The 2009 Summer Universiade, officially known as the XXV Summer Universiade, was celebrated in Belgrade, Serbia from July 1 to 12, 2009. The event has also been organised by a range of co-host cities mostly in Vojvodina (Serbian Autonomous Provin ...

and repeated the feat at the

2009 European Athletics U23 Championships The 7th European Athletics U23 Championships were held between 16 and 19 July 2009 in the S. Darius and S. Girėnas Stadium in Kaunas, Lithuania. Complete results and medal winners were published. Men's results Women's results Medal table ...

(where she also won bronze medals in the 100 and 200 m events). She was selected for the

at the

2009 World Championships in Athletics The 12th IAAF World Championships in Athletics () were held in Berlin, Germany from 15 to 23 August 2009. The majority of events took place in the Olympiastadion, while the marathon and racewalking events started and finished at the Brandenbu ...

, but did not start.

2010

At the start of 2010, Popowicz-Drapała took part in the women's 60 metres at the

2010 IAAF World Indoor Championships The 2010 IAAF World Indoor Championships in Athletics was held between 12 and 14 March at the Aspire Dome in Doha, Qatar. The championships was the first of six IAAF World Athletics Series events to take place in 2010. Bidding and organisation Th ...

but was eliminated in the heats stage. She helped promote the

2010 IAAF World Cross Country Championships The 2010 IAAF World Cross Country Championships were held at Myślęcinek Park in Bydgoszcz, Poland on 28 March 2010. It was the first time in over twenty years that Poland hosted the annual championships, having previously held them in Warsaw in ...

Bydgoszcz Bydgoszcz is a city in northern Poland and the largest city in the historical region of Kuyavia. Straddling the confluence of the Vistula River and its bank (geography), left-bank tributary, the Brda (river), Brda, the strategic location of Byd ...

by taking part in a pre-championship cross country race. She won the bronze medal with the Polish 4 x 100 metres relay at the

2010 European Athletics Championships The 2010 European Athletics Championships were the 20th edition of the European Athletics Championships, organised under the supervision of the European Athletic Association. They were held at the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys in Barcelona, C ...

, breaking the Polish national record.

Olympic career

She was part of Poland's 4 x 100 m relay teams at the

2012 London The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

, 2016 Rio and

2020 Tokyo Olympics The officially the and officially branded as were an international multi-sport event that was held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some of the preliminary sporting events beginning on 21 July 2021. Tokyo ...

. At the 2016 Games, she also competed in the individual 100 metres.

Statistics

International competitions

Personal bests

:* 50 metres indoor – 6.33+ (

Spała Spała is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Inowłódz, within Tomaszów Mazowiecki County, Łódź Voivodeship, in central Poland. It lies on the Pilica River, approximately west of Inowłódz, east of Tomaszów Mazowiecki, and ...

2011) :*

60 metres 60 metres, or 60-meter dash, is a sprint event in track and field. It is a championship event for indoor championships, normally dominated by the best outdoor 100 metres runners. At indoor events, the 60 metres is run on lanes set out in the mi ...

indoor – 7.20 (

Toruń Toruń is a city on the Vistula River in north-central Poland and a World Heritage Sites of Poland, UNESCO World Heritage Site. Its population was 196,935 as of December 2021. Previously, it was the capital of the Toruń Voivodeship (1975–199 ...

2016) *

– 11.28 (

2015) ** 100 metres indoor – 11.91 (

Florø is a town and the administrative centre of the municipality of Kinn which is in Vestland county, Norway. The town was founded by royal decree in 1860 as a ladested on the island of Florelandet, located between the Botnafjorden and Solheimsfjord ...

2015) *

– 23.15 (

Kaunas Kaunas (; ) is the second-largest city in Lithuania after Vilnius, the fourth largest List of cities in the Baltic states by population, city in the Baltic States and an important centre of Lithuanian economic, academic, and cultural life. Kaun ...

2009) ** 200 metres indoor – 23.54 (

2023)

National titles

Polish Athletics Championships The Polish Athletics Championships () is an annual outdoor track and field competition organised by the Polish Athletic Association (PZLA), which serves as the Polish national championship for the sport. It is typically held as a three-day event i ...

: 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015 **

: 2009, 2011, 2012, 2013 **

4 × 100 m relay 4 (four) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 3 and preceding 5. It is a square number, the smallest semiprime and composite number, and is considered unlucky in many East Asian cultures. Evolution of the Hi ...

: 2019, 2022 *

Polish Indoor Athletics Championships The Polish Indoor Athletics Championships () is an annual indoor track and field competition organised by the Polish Athletic Association, which serves as the national championship for the sport in Poland.60 metres 60 metres, or 60-meter dash, is a sprint event in track and field. It is a championship event for indoor championships, normally dominated by the best outdoor 100 metres runners. At indoor events, the 60 metres is run on lanes set out in the mi ...

: 2010, 2011, 2013, 2016, 2020 ** 200 metres: 2010, 2013

References

External links

* * *
Marika Popowicz-Drapała
at the

Paris 2024 Summer Olympics The 2024 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad () and branded as Paris 2024, were an international multi-sport event held in France from 26 July to 11 August 2024, with several events started from 24 July. P ...

* *
Marika Popowicz-Drapała
at the ''Polski Związek Lekkiej Atletyki'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Popowicz-Drapała, Marika 1988 births Living people Polish female sprinters Olympic female sprinters Olympic athletes for Poland Athletes (track and field) at the 2012 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2016 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2020 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2024 Summer Olympics European Athletics Championships medalists Athletes from Greater Poland Voivodeship Universiade medalists in athletics (track and field) FISU World University Games silver medalists for Poland FISU World University Games bronze medalists for Poland European Games silver medalists for Poland European Games medalists in athletics Athletes (track and field) at the 2023 European Games Zawisza Bydgoszcz athletes Sportspeople from Gniezno 21st-century Polish sportswomen