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Tarnów’s Renata Knapik-Miazga won a World Cup event for the first time in her career – beating as many as 12 rivals. Fencing is on the programme of the Kraków-Malopolska 2023 Olympic Games.

A total of 266 athletes took part in the competition in Budapest. First the group phase took place, in which the athlete of AZS AWF Kraków won all six duels and advanced to the top 64 athletes. In the knockout stage, the competition was fierce. The Pole first defeated the Italian Nicol Foietty 15:12, then the Frenchwoman Coraline Vitalis 15:11 and the Swede Elviry Martensson 15:13.

Her rivals put up stronger and stronger resistance, but Knapik-Miazga kept her iron nerves. She proved to be better by one push in the quarter-finals against French representative Alexandra Louis Marie (11:10). In the semi-final, she also won by one stroke over Estonian Nelli Differt (14:13). In the final, the opponent was the representative of the hosts Anna Kun. The fight was fierce, but the Pole made the decisive push in the extra minute and won with 11:10.

This is Knapik-Miazga’s biggest success in the World Cup. So far, she has finished third four times in this ranked competition. Individually, the Krakow University of Technology graduate was a two-time bronze medallist at the European Championships. She has also had a number of team successes – she was European champion and vice-champion. In the world championships, twice the Polish women with Knapik-Miazga in the squad also won the bronze medal. She also competed at the Olympic Games in Tokyo, where the red and white team were sixth.

Also competing in Budapest were other female representatives of Poland – Martyna Swatkowska-Wenglarczyk was 29th and Magdalena Pawlowska 43rd. Among the men, Mateusz Antkiewicz was 20th and Wojciech Kolanczyk 49th.

“I’m very happy. Apparently there were a lot of emotions? During the whole day of the tournament I only had two thoughts for a moment that were silly, so I decided to discard them and let the moment last. I’m glad I was able to bring emotions to you my Dears for that.” – wrote the satisfied Pole.

And she found a huge group of people to thank. The fans, the athletes, AZS Krakow, the physical preparation coach, the psychologist, her husband, all her family and friends. “Thank you very much to my club coach Radek Zawrotniak for preparing me for the start and for his work during the start. Such comfort during a competition is very rare. His support, effective comments and interpretation of the situation helped me to solve a difficult situation on the board many times that day.” – She added.

During the European Games Krakow – Malopolska 2023, 460 male and female athletes will compete in fencing in 12 competitions. The arena of the duels will be the Tauron Arena Krakow. The best athletes will not only win championship titles, but will also receive points for the world ranking, on the basis of which Olympic nominations will be announced on 31 March 2024.