Jan Balachowski (born 28 December 1948) is a retired

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken *Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...

sprinter who specialized in the

400 metres The 400 metres, or 400-meter dash, is a sprint event in track and field competitions. It has been featured in the athletics programme at the Summer Olympics since 1896 for men and since 1964 for women. On a standard outdoor running track, it is on ...

. He was born in

Kraków Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 159 ...

and represented the club

Cracovia Kraków Miejski Klub Sportowy Cracovia Sportowa Spółka Akcyjna, commonly known simply as MKS Cracovia or Cracovia (), is a Polish professional football club based in Kraków. The club is five-time and also the first Polish champion, winner of the Pol ...

.Sports Reference
At the 1966 European Junior Championships he won a bronze medal in the 400 metres, as well as a silver medal in the 4 x 400 metres relay. At the 1967 European Indoor Games he won a silver medal in the 4 x 300 metres relay, which he ran together with Edward Romanowski, Edmund Borowski and Tadeusz Jaworski. At the 1968 European Indoor Games he won a bronze medal in the 400 metres and a gold medal in the 4 x 364 metres relay. In the summer he competed at the 1968 Olympic Games, reaching the quarter-finals in the individual contest and finishing fourth in the final of the

4 x 400 metres relay 4 (four) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 3 and preceding 5. It is the smallest semiprime and composite number, and is considered unlucky in many East Asian cultures. In mathematics Four is the smallest co ...

. At the

1969 European Indoor Games The 1969 European Indoor Games were held between 8–9 March 1969 in Belgrade, the capital of Yugoslavia (present-day Serbia). In 1970 the European Indoor Games were replaced by the European Athletics Indoor Championships The European Athletics ...

he won a gold medal in the 400 metres and another gold medal in the 4 x 390 metres relay. At the 1969 European Championships the Polish relay team finished fourth. At the 1970 European Indoor Championships the Polish relay team won silver medals. Balachowski also qualified for the 400 metres final, but did not finish the race. At the 1971 European Indoor Championships he again qualified, but did not start the final race. This time, the Polish team won relay gold. Balachowski ran together with Jan Werner, Andrzej Badeński and Waldemar Korycki. That summer, the same Polish team won silver medals in 4 x 400 metres relay at the 1971 European Championships. The same team then took another relay triumph at the 1972 European Indoor Championships. In the summer Balachowski participated in the

at the 1972 Olympics, and finished fifth. He became Polish indoor 400 metres champion in 1973. His personal best time was 45.8 seconds, achieved in 1970.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Balachowski, Jan 1948 births Living people Sportspeople from Kraków Polish male sprinters Athletes (track and field) at the 1968 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1972 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes of Poland European Athletics Championships medalists 20th-century Polish people