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 * Polish people, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken * Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin ...

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 ...

. He was born in

Kraków , officially the Royal Capital City of Kraków, is the List of cities and towns in Poland, second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city has a population of 804,237 ...

and represented the club Cracovia Kraków.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 × 400 metres relay. At the

1967 European Indoor Games The 1967 European Indoor Games were held at Sportovní hala, Prague, Czechoslovakia (present-day Czech Republic) from 11 March to 12 March 1967. The track used for the championships was 150 metres long. Medal summary Men Women Medal table P ...

he won a silver medal in the 4 × 300 metres relay, which he ran together with

Edward Romanowski Edward Romanowski (30 July 1944 – 11 November 2007) was a Polish sprinter who specialized in the 200 metres. He was born in Warsaw and represented the club Legia Warszawa. At the 1967 European Indoor Games he won a silver medal in the ...

Edmund Borowski Edmund Borowski (23 January 1945 – 22 August 2022) was a Polish sprinter who specialized in the 400 metres. At the 1966 European Championships he won a gold medal in the 4 × 400 metres relay together with Jan Werner, Stanisław G ...

and Tadeusz Jaworski. At the

1968 European Indoor Games The 1968 European Indoor Games were held between 9–10 March 1968 at Palacio de Deportes de la Comunidad de Madrid, Palacio de Deportes, Madrid, the capital of Spain. The track used for the championships was 182 metres long. Medal summary Men ...

he won a bronze medal in the 400 metres and a gold medal in the 4 × 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 × 400 metres relay The 4 × 400 metres relay or long relay is an athletics track and field, track event in which teams consist of four runners who each complete 400 metres or one lap, totaling 1600 meters. It is traditionally the final event of ...

. 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 × 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 Andrzej Stanisław Badeński (10 May 1943 – 28 September 2008) was a Polish sprinter who specialized in the 400 metres. He won a bronze medal in that event at the 1964 Summer Olympics, and won the gold medal in that event at the European ...

and

Waldemar Korycki Waldemar Korycki (born 11 August 1946) is a Polish retired sprinter who specialized in the 400 metres. He was a successful relay runner. At the 1968 European Indoor Games he won a gold medal in the short relay and a silver medal in the ...

. That summer, the same Polish team won silver medals in 4 × 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 Athletes 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 for Poland European Athletics Championships medalists 20th-century Polish sportsmen