Apart from such Polish armwrestling champions of the 10th Polish FitMax Cup - Starogard Gdański – November 27th and 28th 2009 as the gold medalists of open class (Grzegorz Nowak, Dariusz Muszczak, Marlena Wawrzyniak and Małgorzata Ostrowska) the starts of other Polish competitors are also worth mentioning. Let’s start with the rest of open class participants.

Piotr Bartosiewicz who came back to his home town – Choszczno with 3 medals (the gold foe left and right hand of up to 86kg class  and the silver for left hand open class) had a very good start.

Also Radosław Staroń from Ostróda showed his best side. However in the right hand rivalry he did not reach the medal zone (4th at up to 78kg class), but for left hand of up to 78kg class he ranked second. Radek can also include the good 4th place of left hand open class to his successes.

It is also Worth to mention the medalists, especially the gold ones of senior classes. Rafał Fiołek from Żary had a good start  (1st place for left hand and a bit worse for right hand – 5th place) in up to 63kg class.

Well prepared Mariusz Podgórski from Warsaw also did quite well (1st for left and right hand) in up to 70kg class. It is blindingly obvious that he has significantly improved the strength and technique.

A start of a debutant from Wałbrzych - Rafał Woźny can recognized as a revelation of the year, as he beat such experienced competitors as Dawid Bartosiewicz, Radosław Staroń, Dariusz Groch, Artur Olbryś, Natan Kajdas and others and managed to win to cup medals (the gold one for left hand and the silver one for right) at up to 78kg class. A favourite of the class – Dawid Bartosiewicz from Choszczno ended his rivalry at 3rd place for left hand and 1st place for right hand.

In up to 85kg class apart from Piotra Bartosiewicza (gold for left and right hand) also Tomasz Szewczyk did really well (silver for left and right hand), fighter form  Choszczno - Bartosz Jakubowski (brown for left hand) and oraz Paweł Gomola from Jaworzno (brown for right hand).

In up to 95kg class apart from the above mantioned competitor -  Dariusz Muszczak (gold for left and right hand) Marcin Lachowicz z Piaseczno, Zawada Marcin (brown for left hand) and Łukasz Obłuski (brown for right hand) were distinguished.

In +95 kg class Artur Głowiński, who ranked 3rd as well for left and right hand in the final classification came back to the national field.  In the same class Głowacki Sławomir from Inowrocław got the second place for left hand and unexpectedly he did not reach the podium for right hand (4th place). As for this year’s brown medalist of the World Championships I think that it was not enough. Sławek, get to train! Of course the favorite of the class -  Grzegorz Nowak from Gdyna won two gold medals without any problems.

Among women seniors rivalry – constantly getting better junior - Marta Opalińska  from Grudziądz, who easily won two gold medals of left and right hand rivalries in up to 54kg class, deserves recognition.

Bożena Cichopek from Jaworzno did really well and won the gold medal as well for left and right hand of up to 60kg class. The medal same of the colour Bożena won in the left hand open masters class (silver for right hand), too.

In a bit heavier women class – over 60kg Małgorzata Ostrowska from Strzegom not only deserved but also manager to win the gold medal for left hand (brown for right hand), whereas the gold medal of right hand went to Marlena Wawrzyniak from Grudziądz (did not started for left hand). The duble silver medalist of the class became Aleksandra Lewandowska from Gdynia.

This year’s Polish Cup showed us that we cannot always stake on favorites of particular weight classes. The changes that we can observe on the final podium surprise everyone. But it is good. Because good preparation for tournaments is that what it is all about in armwrestling, as well as in other sports disciplines. The better preparation, the better madal place. And the ones who did worse should draw the conclusions and get down to work, as the others do.

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