Włodarczyk won the long jump at the 1980 European Athletics Indoor Championships and remains the Polish national record holder in the indoor long jump. In the 1980 Olympics, she finished in fourth place after a "home team" Soviet judge changed his mind and allowed Tatyana Kolpakova to get credit for a jump after apparently fouling. She was denied a chance to challenge for a medal in 1984 by the Soviet-led 1984 Summer Olympics boycott. She won five straight Polish National Indoor Long Jump Championships and three times outdoors. Between 1980 and 1984, she was ranked in the worldwide top 10 four times.