Pole’s seventh place in European breaking championships
Igor Wypiór B-boy Wigor qualified for the finals at the European Breaking Championships held in Almeria, Spain. The best of the Poles – B-girl Paulina Starus – took 24th place. The competition in breaking during the European Games Krakow – Małopolska 2023 will take place in Nowy Sącz. In addition to a medal to be won, there will be a qualification for the Olympic Games in Paris.
160 B-boys and 75 B-girls from all over Europe except Russia and Belarus competed in Almeria. The preliminaries selected 16 competitors each, who were divided into four groups. In it, B-boy Wigor won against two rivals and lost against one. He advanced to the quarter-finals from second place. In the knockout stage, he lost to Spanish B-Boy Xak – Juan De la Torre Sanchez and eventually finished seventh. The winner was Dutch B-Boy Menno – Menno Van Gorp. The 22nd position was won by B-Boy Kleju – Tomasz Piotr Kuliś.
Among the women, the best was Lithuanian B-Girl Nick – Dominika Banevic. The Polish women did not manage to advance to the group stage. In the end, B-Girl Paulina – Paulina Starus was 24th and B-Girl Mery Berry – Maria Hadjiraftis 25th – I am happy, because to represent my country Lithuania and to become European champion is a great honour. I felt myself on stage,” said Banević, who qualified for the European Games.
Breaking will make its debut at both the Kraków-Malopolska 2023 European Games and the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. Five years ago, medals in this discipline were claimed at the Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires. Poland was represented by Piotr Winiarski and took fourth place.
During the Małopolska competition in Nowy Sącz, 16 men and 16 women will compete in the same format as during the European Championships – first the group phase on 26 June, and a day later quarter-finals, semi-finals and finals. The winners will gain Olympic qualification for Paris. Poland will certainly be represented by B-boy Wigor, and it is not yet known which of the Polish women will present themselves at the Strzelecki Park in Nowy Sącz.
