PRE EVENT

Amir Maimuratov of Kazahkstan:

“I am very excited for every competition, and also I like the whole magical atmosphere here in Krakow. I am doing individual Speed and the men’s relay, though I am skipping mixed, because I want to concentrate all my strength on these two events.

“The relay is a good opportunity to have fun with your friend and enjoy the competition even more. We don’t have special tactics, and we didn’t even practice it, because my teammate is currently studying and living in a different country.

“I became a father last year and it is indescribable and magical, because I have always dreamt to be a father for a long time. My son motivates me to be a better version of myself, so I try hard even more in each training session.

“My goal is always to show my best, when I play something, I always play to win. Also, I want to enjoy every competition I participate in.”

SPEED QUALIFICATIONS

Julian David of New Zealand, 24th with 5.162 seconds:

“It’s a bit bizarre having that many people on the wall at once,” he said. “I’ve only done it once before, but after the qualification round now, I’m pretty content with it. I liked my second and fourth runs the most, but the fact that the very first run is counting is still cool for me because before it didn’t. I’ve had World Cups where I’ve had really good practice and then not-so-good qualifications, so now that all of them count, that’s awesome.”

About the new format: “I love it. I also love the idea that we can now run relays. In future Olympics we could have multiple formats now, so you’re not just travelling halfway across the world to an event for five seconds. I get more competition time and I think it’s just great for the sport.”

About competing in Europe: “I love when I go overseas. There’s this thing we call ‘taking the backpack off’... you leave all your stress and worries at home. Every time I come to Europe, I just go so fast, I love it.”

About his change in mindset, rather than workload, for his recent improvements: “I feel like the training has been the same, but the intent has changed. Rob and my trainer Kez put their heads together and came up with a slightly different training programme. The amount of work that we’re doing is the same, but the intent has changed. I’m finally getting personal bests again, which is sick. I’m looking forward to what I can do tomorrow, and in the relays.”

Polina Khalkevych of Ukraine, seventh with 6.50 seconds:

“My qualification round was not bad, but I think I can do better than that. Hopefully in the final. That wasn’t my best. Having no practice and four attempts to do a faster time in qualification is really good.

“The medal in Alcobendas hasn’t changed the way I approach competitions. I try not to think too much about what happened in the past. I still focus on my training and on the present.”

SPEED MIXED RELAY QUALIFICATION

Anna Brożek of Poland, 16th with 12.99 seconds:

About the Mixed Relay: “It’s super fun. There is a different kind of pressure, less pressure than an individual one.”

About competing alongside her fiancé made the experience even more enjoyable: “I think it just makes it more fun. I think we know each other so well that it was easier to have fun in this. There was no discussion on who was going first. I was the first one in Chengdu last year, and he did a men’s relay with Oskar in Madrid and he went second, so we just stuck to it.”

About competing in Poland: “I left my house only yesterday so I was scared that I wouldn’t be able to get into the right mode coming from home, but when I got here, being in the hotel made me feel like it was a competition again. This is really a nice place to have the competition.”

About the competition: “I’m really tired after this because I did the individual and the mixed relay, and tomorrow I’m in the individual finals and the mixed relay finals. I want to have that same vibe I had today.”

Marcin Dzieński of Poland, 16th with 12.99 seconds:

About the new event: “It’s super fun. I was relaxed and I kind of love it, and I hope it’s going to stay for long in our discipline.”

About competing with Anna Brozek: “I loved to race with my fiancée. She wanted to go first, so I didn’t have a choice, but I think it was a good decision because I felt confident on the second race and I think I had a really good reaction time.”

About the final: “My goal is that Anya should do six seconds, so I can do 5.10 and it’s gonna be okay!”

SPEED FINALS

Samuel Watson of the USA, gold medallist with 4.60 seconds:

“I’m feeling great! Obviously the win is a big part of it, but 250 years ago this great American experiment began, the Fourth of July, our Independence Day, and to be here competing on the highest stage, to win and to go head-to-head in these battles with the new format, is great,” Watson said. “I’m pretty happy, but you saw my face at the end, I did want a record, but the one-on-one format maybe is a bit better for that.”

About his preparation: “I’m very happy with my training since the last competition. Some of the improvements that I’ve made gave me a new sense of motivation, a new sense of drive to improve myself on the wall. I’ve copied some of the beta from Zhao Yicheng and I think I outran him on the move that I looked to improve on. That’s definitely a spark of confidence and I want to keep getting better.”

Desak Made Rita Kusuma Dewi of Indonesia, gold medallist with 6.54:

“I’m very happy, this is my second medal in Kraków, I didn’t expect I could get a gold medal again, all the competitors were very fast. I want to congratulate all of them, and thank my team, my coach, and all the people in Indonesia who supported us.

“Actually, I had some problems before this competition because our government is not supporting us, and thanks to this gold medal I hope they will start to support us.”

About the host city: “Thank you so much to Kraków, this is a beautiful place for me!”

SPEED MIXED RELAY FINAL

Emma Hunt of the USA, gold medallist with 10.89:

“It’s pretty crazy and exciting to have done this on Independence Day… happy Fourth of July!”

About the host city: “I love Kraków. It’s the coolest venue, the crowd is huge and they do an amazing job running this event. So getting to do it here and do it with Sam was just more than I can ask for.”

Samuel Watson of the USA, gold medallist with 10.89:

About the decisive run: “The final race specifically was pretty cool. We had just done the 11.00 in the previous round, we were going pretty relaxed, I was feeling better, managing my skin and that last little bit of adrenaline. I did my run and saw that Emma was already at a point where she was much faster than I usually see her, and I thought: ‘This is going to be a great run!’ To watch her close was incredible.”

About winning gold Fourth of July: “It means a lot to do it on Independence Day. I had to tell her it’s Independence Day, we took it very seriously. That was our best team hype-up moment, so we definitely pulled it off as a team.”

MEN'S SPEED RELAY FINAL

Long Jianguo of China, gold medallist with 11.07 seconds:

“This is incredible. I didn’t feel very good in the individual and mixed relay races. Today everything went well, I felt more comfortable and I’m very happy with this result.”

Chu Shouhong of China, gold medallist with 11.07:

“I really liked the team dynamic today. We never gave up and we are very happy with the win.”

WOMEN'S SPEED RELAY FINAL

Deng Lijuan of China, gold medallist with 12.89:

“It’s really exciting and I’m so happy with the gold and the world record.”

Zhou Yafei of China, gold medallist with 12.89:

“We knew we had the possibility to set a new world record, but to make it feels great. We’re very happy.”

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