Jan Balachowski

Jan Balachowski (born 28 December 1948) is a retired Polish sprinter who specialized in the 400 metres.

He was born in Kraków and represented the club Cracovia Kraków.^[1] At the 1966 European Junior Championships he won a bronze medal in the 400 metres,^[2] as well as a silver medal in the 4 x 400 metres relay.^[3]

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. ^[4] At the 1968 European Indoor Games he won a bronze medal in the 400 metres^[5] and a gold medal in the 4 x 364 metres relay.^[6] 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.^[1] At the 1969 European Indoor Games he won a gold medal in the 400 metres^[5] and another gold medal in the 4 x 390 metres relay.^[7] At the 1969 European Championships the Polish relay team finished fourth.^[8]

At the 1970 European Indoor Championships the Polish relay team won silver medals.^[9] Balachowski also qualified for the 400 metres final, but did not finish the race.^[10] At the 1971 European Indoor Championships he again qualified, but did not start the final race.^[11] This time, the Polish team won relay gold. Balachowski ran with together with Jan Werner, Andrzej Badeński and Waldemar Korycki.^[12] That summer, the same Polish team won silver medals in 4 x 400 metres relay at the 1971 European Championships.^[13] The same team then took another relay triumph at the 1972 European Indoor Championships.^[14] In the summer Balachowski participated in the 4 x 400 metres relay at the 1972 Olympics, and finished fifth.^[1]

He became Polish indoor 400 metres champion in 1973.^[15] His personal best time was 45.8 seconds, achieved in 1970.^[1]

References