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Ewa Nikola Swoboda (Polish pronunciation: [ˈɛva ɲiˈkɔla sfɔˈbɔda]; born 26 July 1997)[2] is a Polish track and field sprinter who specialises in the short sprints. She is a World Indoor Championships silver medallist, two-time European Championships silver medallist, European Indoor Championships gold and two-time silver medallist, and European Games gold and silver medallist. Swoboda is a two-time Olympian and competed at the 2016 and 2024 Summer Olympics.
_2016.jpg) Swoboda at the 2016 indoor Pedro's Cup | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Full name | Ewa Nikola Swoboda | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | July 26, 1997 Żory, Poland | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.64 m (5 ft 5 in) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 55 kg (121 lb) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Country | Poland | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | Track and field | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Event | Sprint | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Club | AZS AWF Katowice, formerly UKS Czwórka Żory[1] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Coached by | Iwona Krupa | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Achievements and titles | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal bests | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Swoboda is also a two-time European U23 champion, World Junior Championships silver medallist and European junior champion. At age 17, she was a finalist in the 60 metres in her senior debut at the 2015 European Indoor Championships and won the gold medal in the 100 metres at the 2015 European Junior Championships, before taking the silver medal at the 2016 World Junior Championships in the same event. She won the 100 metres event at the European U23 Championships in 2017 and 2019. Swoboda holds the world junior record of 7.07 seconds and the Polish record of 6.98 seconds in the 60 metres.[3] She is a multiple medallist of national outdoor and indoor championships.
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Career beginnings
Swoboda started competing in athletics from a young age and after joining the UKS Czwórka Żory athletics club, she began training under her coach Iwona Krupa. She won the Polish youth titles in the 100 metres in 2011 and 2012. The following year she won the national indoor junior 200 metres race.[4]
Her international debut came at the 2013 World Youth Championships in Athletics where she placed fourth in the girls' 100 m with a run of 11.61 seconds; finishing as the best European in the race.[5] Following the event, she ran a personal best and set a new Polish junior record of 11.54 seconds in the 100 m at the Polish Youth Olympic Days, where she completed a sprint double.[6]
At the start of 2014, Swoboda claimed the Polish indoor junior title in the 60 metres.[4] Outdoors, at the 2014 World Junior Championships in Athletics she was fifth in the 100 m, and failed to finish in the 200 m.[7] At the European Youth Olympic Trials in Baku, she won the 100 m and was runner-up in the 200 m.[4] Swoboda was one of the favourites for the 2014 Youth Olympics in the girls' 100 m, where she ran a new best of 11.30 seconds in her opening race – making her the second fastest junior athlete that year.[8] However, she was disqualified in the 100 m final for a false start in the midst of crowd noise.[2][9]
Senior career
Swoboda won her first senior national title at the 2015 Polish Indoor Championships and she also set a 60 metres European junior record of 7.21 seconds during the competition, which was also a world best for a seventeen-year-old.[10][11] This gained her selection for the 2015 European Athletics Indoor Championships – her first senior appearance for Poland. Still aged seventeen, she made the final of the 60 m and ran another personal best of 7.20 seconds, improving her European junior record by 0.01 seconds. This was the joint fastest time achieved by a Polish woman in the competition's history – matching that of Irena Szewińska and Daria Korczyńska (both of whom were medallists).[12] Swoboda competed in the 100 metres event at the 2016 Summer Olympics, where she reached the semifinals.
In March 2018 it was announced that Swoboda would be upgraded to silver medalist at the 2017 European Indoor Championship, after Ukraine's Olesya Povh's was disqualified for the use of unauthorized substances.[13]
She was unable to participate at the 2021 European Athletics Indoor Championships in Toruń after testing positive to COVID-19 shortly before the start of the championships.[14] Swoboda also did not compete at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics due to injury.[15]
On 11 February 2022, she broke the Polish national record in the 60 meters twice at the Orlen Cup meeting in Łódź and set a new one by achieving 7.00 seconds.[16] On 5 March, she broke the record again at the Polish Indoor Championships in Toruń with a time of 6.99 seconds, which was the tenth best result in the history of the competition.[17]
She placed fourth at the 2022 World Indoor Championships held in Belgrade in a time of 7.04 seconds. The same time was measured for the fifth and sixth woman while Swoboda lost the bronze medal by 0.002 s.[18]
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At the Diamond League meeting at the Silesian Stadium in Chorzów on 16 July 2023, she ran her first sub-11 second 100m, as she placed third in a personal best of 10.94 seconds, just 0.01 adrift of Ewa Kasprzyk's Polish national record set in 1986.
At the 2023 World Athletics Championships she claimed sixth place in the Women's 100 metres achieving 10.97 seconds, the fastest result by a European woman.[19]
In March 2024, Swoboda participated in the women's 60 meters at the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Glasgow. In the semifinals, she improved her personal best record and set a new national record by achieving 6.98 seconds. In the final, she won the silver medal by finishing in a time of 7.00 seconds, thus claiming her first medal at the World Indoor Championships event.[20][21]
In June 2024, Swoboda won silver medal in the women's 100 meters event at the European Championships in Rome by achieving 11.03 seconds losing only to Dina Asher-Smith of Great Britain.[22] At the 2024 Summer Olympics, she reached the semifinals in the 100 meters event, but failed to make the final after falling short of 0.01 seconds to qualify.[23]
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She was in a relationship with Polish shot putter Konrad Bukowiecki.[24] As of 2023, she was in a relationship with Polish athlete Krzysztof Kiljan.[24] In one of interviews, she admitted that in the past she was the target of hate speech and at one point started thinking about quitting the sport.[25] She is a tattoo enthusiast. Her tattoos include a rose, cat and an inscription "Mom and dad, I love you" written in English.[26]
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Personal bests
- 100 metres – 10.94 (+0.2 m/s Diamond League - Chorzów 2023)
- 200 metres – 23.79 (+0.3 m/s) (Linz 2018)
- Indoor
International competitions
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| Year | Competition | Venue | Position | Event | Result | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | World Youth Championships | Donetsk, Ukraine | 4th | 100 m | 11.61 | |
| 2014 | World Junior Championships | Eugene, OR, United States | 5th | 100 m | 11.59 | (-1.0 m/s) |
| — | 200 m | DNF | ||||
| — | 4 × 100 m relay | DNF | ||||
| Youth Olympics | Nanjing, China | — | 100 m | DQ | False start (h NU18R) | |
| 2015 | European Indoor Championships | Prague, Czech Republic | 8th | 60 m | 7.20 | AU20R |
| European Team Championships, Super League | Cheboksary, Russia | 3rd | 100 m | 11.48 | ||
| 4th | 4 x 100 m relay | 43.28 | ||||
| European Junior Championships | Eskilstuna, Sweden | 1st | 100 m | 11.52 | ||
| 2nd | 4 x 100 m relay | 45.28 | ||||
| 2016 | European Championships | Amsterdam, Netherlands | 7th | 4 x 100 m relay | 43.24 | |
| World Junior Championships | Bydgoszcz, Poland | 2nd | 100 m | 11.12 | NU20R | |
| 4th | 4 x 100 m relay | 44.81 | ||||
| Olympic Games | Rio de Janeiro, Brazil | 15th (sf) | 100 m | 11.18 | ||
| 13th (h) | 4 x 100 m relay | 43.33 | ||||
| 2017 | European Indoor Championships | Belgrade, Serbia | 2nd | 60 m | 7.10 | SB |
| European Team Championships, Super League | Lille, France | — | 100 m | DQ | ||
| 2nd | 4 x 100 m relay | 43.07 | ||||
| European U23 Championships | Bydgoszcz, Poland | 1st | 100 m | 11.42 | ||
| 4th | 4 x 100 m relay | 44.21 | ||||
| World Championships | London, United Kingdom | 24th (sf) | 100 m | 11.35 | ||
| 2018 | World Indoor Championships | Birmingham, United Kingdom | 16th (sf) | 60 m | 7.25 | |
| European Championships | Berlin, Germany | 11th (sf) | 100 m | 11.30 | ||
| 6th | 4 × 100 m relay | 43.34 | ||||
| 2019 | European Indoor Championships | Glasgow, Scotland | 1st | 60 m | 7.09 | |
| World Relays | Yokohama, Japan | — | 4 × 100 m relay | DNF | ||
| European U23 Championships | Gävle, Sweden | 1st | 100 m | 11.15 | SB | |
| 3rd | 4 × 100 m relay | 44.08 | SB | |||
| European Team Championships, Super League | Bydgoszcz, Poland | 3rd | 100 m | 11.35 | ||
| 6th | 4 × 100 m relay | 44.23 | ||||
| World Championships | Doha, Qatar | 16th (sf) | 100 m | 11.27 | ||
| 2022 | World Indoor Championships | Belgrade, Serbia | 4th | 60 m | 7.04 | |
| World Championships | Eugene, OR, United States | 12th (sf) | 100 m | 11.08 | ||
| 11th (h) | 4 × 100 m relay | 43.19 | ||||
| European Championships | Munich, Germany | 4th | 100 m | 11.18 | ||
| 2nd | 4 × 100 m relay | 42.61 | NR | |||
| 2023 | European Indoor Championships | Istanbul, Turkey | 2nd | 60 m | 7.09 | =SB |
| World Championships | Budapest, Hungary | 6th | 100 m | 10.97 | ||
| 5th | 4 × 100 m relay | 42.66 | ||||
| 2024 | World Indoor Championships | Glasgow, United Kingdom | 2nd | 60 m | 7.00 | |
| European Championships | Rome, Italy | 2nd | 100 m | 11.03 | ||
| 8th (h) | 4 × 100 m relay | 43.151 | ||||
| Olympic Games | Paris, France | 9th (sf) | 100 m | 11.08 | ||
| 12th (h) | 4 × 100 m relay | 42.86 |
1Did not finish in the final
National titles
- Polish Athletics Championships
- 100 metres (8): 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2022, 2023, 2024
- 4 × 100 m relay (1): 2020
- Polish Indoor Athletics Championships
- 60 metres (8): 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024
Honours and accolades
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