Flying Francois enjoyed a wonderful season
FRANÇOIS KULIK is a M35 athlete (aged 35–39). His main event is high jump, but he also does 110 mH, triple jump and combined events.
It was an eventful year for François in more ways than one.
He opened his account at the Athletics Ireland National Senior Indoors Championships at the National Indoor Arena, Abbotstown in the middle of February.
He clinched the Senior bronze medal with a good clearance at his third attempt at 1.90 m, his season’s best.
Two weeks later he was back at the same venue for the Athletics Leinster Masters T&F Championships. He was crowned Leinster M35 champion with a clearance at 1.88m, a M35 championship best performance.
His competition that day will be remembered by many for another reason.
In attempting a further clearance by Fosbury Flop his head hit one of the metal uprights causing a bleeding head injury!
The following weekend at the Athlone IT Arena François was back in action, none the worse for his head injury.
He added the National Masters
M35 high jump gold medal to his 2019 collection with a first attempt clearance at 1.80m.
At the end of March he competed at the World Masters Athletic Championships Indoor (WMACI) at Toru, Poland, finishing fifth in the high jump in the M35 category with a best of 1.85m.
The Leinster Masters Outdoors T&F Championship took place at Tullamore Stadium on June 2. François added four Leinster gold medals to his collection by the end of the day. He won the M35 high jump at 1.75m.
In the 110 mH he successfully cleared the ten hurdles in 18.53 sec (+1.1 m/s) for a gold reward. His other two gold medals came in long jump and triple jump, with bests of 5.57m and 11.60m, respectively.
He competed in the National Combined events winning the gold medal in the M35 category with 2,538 pts (110 mH, 18.26 sec; LJ, 5.61 m; HJ, 1.82 m; Shot Putt, 6.60 m; 1500 m, 5:14.72).
François next competed in the Championnats de France Masters in June at Dreux in Northern France to become the French M35 high jump champion with a best of 1.80m.
The following day he placed fourth in the high jump, with a best of 1.85m at the Championnats
Regionaux Haut de France at Bruay-la-Buissière, Pas-de-Calais.
The National Masters T&F at Tullamore in the middle of August proved to be another golden day for François, in what can only at best be described as soggy and very unpleasant conditions for everyone, including officials.
It was certainly not a day for heroics or CBPs. Having secured the M35 high jump Gold medal at 1.70 m, he wisely abandoned the slippery run up and further splashy baths on the rain-saturated high jump mat!
The 110 mH is most certainly not an event to tackle on a wet day, but he navigated the 10 hurdles well, albeit somewhat cautiously to claim he second gold medal in 19.82 sec (–0.2 m/s).
He took his third gold medal in the long jump with a best of 5.60 m (+1.1 m/s).
His final outdoor competition of the year was at the European Masters Athletics Championships which took place in Jesolo, Italy, in September. It was a frustrating high jump competition for him. He placed fourth in the M35 category with a best of 1.80m, but had three failures at 1.83m.
The three medal placings were decided between 1.83m–1.89m, which are heights within his compass.