Natalia Bukowiecka

Natalia Bukowiecka (née Kaczmarek; born 17 January 1998)^[3] is a Polish sprinter who specialises in the 400 metres. She is a three-time Olympic Games medallist and won the gold medal in the mixed 4 × 400 metres relay and the silver medal in the 4 × 400 metres relay at the 2020 Summer Olympics, and the bronze medal in the 400 metres at the 2024 Summer Olympics.

Natalia Bukowiecka

Bukowiecka at the Polish Athletics Championships in 2021
Personal information
Born	Natalia Kaczmarek (1998-01-17) 17 January 1998 (age 27) Drezdenko, Lubusz Voivodeship, Poland[1]
Height	1.74 m (5 ft 9 in)[2]
Sport
Country	Poland
Sport	Track and field
Event	Sprints
Club	KS Podlasie Białystok
Achievements and titles
Personal bests	400 m: 48.90 NR (2024) Outdoors 400 m: 50.83 NR (2023)
Medal record Women's athletics Representing  Poland Olympic Games 2020 Tokyo 4 × 400 m mixed 2020 Tokyo 4 × 400 m relay 2024 Paris 400 m World Championships 2023 Budapest 400 m World Indoor Championships 2018 Birmingham 4 × 400 m relay 2022 Belgrade 4 × 400 m relay World Relays 2021 Chorzów 4 × 400 m relay 2024 Nassau 4 × 400 m relay European Championships 2018 Berlin 4 × 400 m relay 2024 Rome 400 m 2022 Munich 400 m 2022 Munich 4 × 400 m relay European Indoor Championships 2021 Toruń 4 × 400 m relay European Games 2023 Kraków-Małopolska 400 m 2023 Kraków-Małopolska 4 × 400 m mixed European U23 Championships 2019 Gävle 400 m 2019 Gävle 4 × 400 m relay

Bukowiecka is also a World Championships silver medallist, European Championships gold and silver medallist and European Games silver medallist in the 400 metres, and a World Indoor Championships silver and bronze medallist, two-time World Relays silver medallist, European Championships gold and silver medallist and European Indoors Championships bronze medallist in the 4 × 400 metres relay. Bukowiecka holds the Polish national record in the 300 m and 400 m both outdoors and indoors, and the 4 × 400 m relay and mixed 4 × 400 m relay outdoors.

Career

Running in the heats as part of the women's 4 × 400 metres relays, Bukowiecka won the silver medal at the 2018 World Indoor Championships and a gold at the 2018 European Championships.

In the same relay event, she earned the bronze medal at the 2021 European Indoor Championships. In May, she took two gold medals at the European Team Championships, whose Super League events took place in Chorzów, Poland. Besides women's 4 × 400 metres relay victory she won the individual 400 metres event.

Bukowiecka won two medals at the delayed Tokyo Olympics in 2021, a gold with Poland's mixed 4 × 400 relay team (alongside Karol Zalewski, Justyna Święty-Ersetic and Kajetan Duszyński), and a silver as a member of women's 4 × 400 m relay with Iga Baumgart-Witan, Małgorzata Hołub-Kowalik and Święty-Ersetic.^[4][5] Kaczmarek went out of the individual 400 m event in the third semi-final in a time of 50.79 seconds.

In May 2022, she won 400 m race at the Golden Spike meet in Ostrava, smashing her previous personal best with a time of 50.16 seconds, the second-fastest mark on the Polish all-time list.^[6]

On 6 August 2022, she improved her personal best to 49.86 seconds at the Kamila Skolimowska Memorial in Chorzów, becoming only the second Polish woman after Irena Szewińska to run 400 metres under 50 seconds.^[7]

On 15 February 2023, Bukowiecka became the first Polish woman to break the 51-second barrier in the indoor 400 m with a time of 50.90 seconds, finishing second behind only Femke Bol at the prestigious Meeting Hauts-de-France Pas-de-Calais in Liévin, France.^[8]

On 23 August 2023, she competed in the Women's 400 metres event at the 2023 World Athletics Championships achieving 49.57 seconds and winning the silver medal.^[9] She became the first Polish athlete to win a medal in this event since Irena Szewińska.^[10]

On 10 June 2024, Bukowiecka won the European title in the 400 metres in a time of 48.98 seconds at the European Athletics Championships in Rome. This time broke the long-standing Polish national record of Irena Szewińska, which had stood since 1976.^[11]

Personal life

On 28 September 2024, Bukowiecka married Polish shot putter Konrad Bukowiecki with whom she had been in a relationship since 2018.^[12]

Personal bests

Information from her World Athletics profile unless otherwise noted.^[3]

Individual events

• 100 metres – 11.73 (+1.8 m/s, Jelenia Góra 2022)
• 200 metres – 22.70 (Golęcin Stadion, Poznan (POL) 23 JUN 2024)
  • 200 metres indoor – 23.30 (Toruń 2023)
• 300 metres – 35.52 (Potchefstroom 2024) NR
  • 300 metres indoor – 36.20 (Spała 2022) NR
• 400 metres – 48.90 (London 2024) NR
  • 400 metres indoor – 50.83 (Toruń 2023) NR

Team events

• 4 × 400 metres relay – 3:20.53 (Tokyo 2021) NR
  • 4 × 400 metres relay indoor – 3:28.59 (Belgrade 2022)
• 4 × 400 metres relay mixed – 3:09.87 (Tokyo 2021) European record

Competition results

Information from her World Athletics profile unless otherwise noted.^[3]

International competitions

Representing  Poland

Year	Competition	Venue	Position	Event	Time	Notes
2015	World Youth Championships	Cali, Colombia	9th (sf)	400 m	54.25
			5th	4 × 400 m mixed	3:24.64
2016	World U20 Championships	Bydgoszcz, Poland	18th (sf)	400 m	54.32
			6th	4 × 400 m relay	3:36.95
2017	European U20 Championships	Grosseto, Italy	7th	400 m	54.27
			4th	4 × 400 m relay	3:34.48
2018	World Indoor Championships	Birmingham, United Kingdom	2nd (heats)	4 × 400 m relay i	3:32.07	[n 1]
	European Championships	Berlin, Germany	1st (heats)	4 × 400 m relay	3:28.52	[n 1]
2019	European U23 Championships	Gävle, Sweden	1st	400 m	52.34
			1st	4 × 400 m relay	3:32.56
2021	European Indoor Championships	Toruń, Poland	3rd	4 × 400 m relay i	3:29.94
	World Relays	Chorzów, Poland	2nd	4 × 400 m relay	3:28.81
	European Team Championships Super League	Chorzów, Poland	1st	400 m	51.36
			1st	4 × 400 m relay	3:26.37	EL
	Olympic Games	Tokyo, Japan	12th (sf)	400 m	50.79
			2nd	4 × 400 m relay	3:20.53	NR
			1st	4 × 400 m mixed	3:09.87	OR AR
2022	World Indoor Championships	Belgrade, Serbia	7th (sf)	400 m i	51.87
			3rd	4 × 400 m relay i	3:28.59	SB
	World Championships	Eugene, OR, United States	15th (sf)	400 m	51.34
			4th	4 × 400 m mixed	3:12.31	SB
	European Championships	Munich, Germany	2nd	400 m	49.94
			2nd	4 × 400 m relay	3:21.68	SB
2023	World Championships	Budapest, Hungary	2nd	400 m	49.57
			6th	4 × 400 m relay	3:24.93
2024	World Relays	Nassau, Bahamas	6th (h)	4 × 400 m mixed	3:13.53	[n 2]
			2nd	4 × 400 m relay	3:24.71
	European Championships	Rome, Italy	1st	400 m	48.98	NR
			6th	4 × 400 m relay	3:23.91
	Olympic Games	Paris, France	3rd	400 m	48.98
2025	World Relays	Guangzhou, China	7th (heats)	4 × 400 m mixed	3:12.70	[n 1]
			3rd (repechage)	4 × 400 m relay	3:24.56	[n 3]
	European Team Championships, First Division	Madrid, Spain	2nd	400 m	50.14	SB
			1st	4 × 400 m mixed	3:09.43	CR, NR, WL
	World Championships	Tokyo, Japan	4th	4 × 400 m mixed	3:10.63
			4th	400 m	49.27	SB
			5th	4 × 400 m relay	3:22.91	SB

Notes

1. Time from the heats; Bukowiecka was replaced in the final.
2. Time from the heats; The Polish team did not start in the final.
3. Time from the repechage round; The Polish team did not qualify for the final and competed in the repechage round instead.