The Polish city of Gdańsk will host the 31st edition of the International Waldemar Malak Memorial on 29 August 2026, an event included in the calendar of the European Weightlifting Federation -EWF-. The tournament, organised by MKS Atleta Gdańsk and the Polish Weightlifting Federation -PZPC-, will again bring together international lifters in a competition designed to honour the legacy of Waldemar Malak, Poland’s Olympic bronze medallist at Barcelona 1992.
Malak, born in Gdańsk in 1970, was one of the leading figures in Polish weightlifting in the early 1990s. At the Barcelona 1992 Olympic Games, he won bronze in the first heavyweight category with a total of 400 kilos, after also becoming a European medallist that same year. His death months later, in a traffic accident at the age of 22, turned the memorial into a way of preserving a brief and symbolic career for Polish sport.
An established event in Gdańsk
The Waldemar Malak Memorial has become a late-summer fixture in European weightlifting, usually held at the MKS Atleta hall in Gdańsk. The 2024 edition brought together athletes from countries including Armenia, Czech Republic, Georgia, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia and Poland, with Georgia’s Ravez Davetadze named best lifter and winner of the main prize.
The jubilee edition in 2025 strengthened that international and federation dimension. The tournament brought lifters from several European countries to Gdańsk and was attended by EWF officials, including its president, Astrit Hasani, and its general secretary, Milan Mihajlović. Their presence underlined the role of the memorial as a meeting point between competition, tradition and the continental calendar.
Prize money, hospitality and a close-format event
The 31st edition maintains the tournament’s competitive and invitational profile. The regulations provide for the participation of 12 heavyweight-category athletes, selected from the entries, with the ranking based on Sinclair points. The total prize fund will be €10,000 and the champion will receive €3,000, an amount that keeps financial incentive as one of the memorial’s distinctive features.
The organisers will provide accommodation and meals for official participants, with the aim of supporting athletes’ preparation and recovery during the competition. The event will take place at MKS Atleta Gdańsk, in Gdańsk-Oliwa, and the registration deadline is 31 May, with participant selection scheduled for 15 June. That structure reinforces the selective character of a competition that combines international level, closeness to the public and support conditions for the lifters.
Weightlifting and Baltic appeal
The tournament also benefits from the setting of the Tricity region, formed by Gdańsk, Sopot and Gdynia, three cities connected by local transport and with complementary profiles. Gdańsk provides the historical weight of its Hanseatic centre, Sopot concentrates the summer image of the Baltic, and Gdynia offers a more maritime and modern identity. The location makes the event more than a one-day competition for delegations, athletes and fans travelling to Poland at the end of August.
The arrival of the 31st edition confirms the continuity of a memorial that combines Olympic remembrance, a competitive platform and an international presence on the European calendar. Gdańsk will again place the figure of Waldemar Malak at the centre of a competition that brings together Polish sporting memory, continental participation and a venue accustomed to hosting high-level lifters at the end of the summer.
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