Mateusz Michalski (born 29 August 1987) is a visually impaired sprinter from

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, , is a country in Central Europe. Poland is divided into Voivodeships of Poland, sixteen voivodeships and is the fifth most populous member state of the European Union (EU), with over 38 mill ...

.Mateusz Michalski
. rio2016.com He competed at the 2008, 2012 and 2016 Paralympics and won a gold in the 200 metres and a silver in the 100 metres in 2012. His time of 21.56 s in the 200 m set a new world record.

Career history

Michalski was born in

Września Września (german: Wreschen) is a town in west-central Poland with 28,600 inhabitants (1995). It is situated in the Września County, Greater Poland Voivodeship (since 1999), previously in Poznań Voivodeship (1975–1998), on the Wrześnica Riv ...

, Poland in 1987. He is visually impaired, and describes his vision as being about ten percent. He took up athletics at the age of 16, after a coach at his school introduced him to the sport. In 2008, Michalski travelled to Beijing as part of the Polish team to compete in the

Summer Paralympics The Summer Paralympics also known as the Games of the Paralympiad, are an international multi-sport event where athletes with physical disabilities compete. This includes athletes with mobility disabilities, amputations, blindness, and cerebra ...

. At the games he competed in both

100m The 100 metres, or 100-meter dash, is a sprint race in track and field competitions. The shortest common outdoor running distance, the dash is one of the most popular and prestigious events in the sport of athletics. It has been conteste ...

and

200m The 200 metres, or 200-meter dash, is a sprint running event. On an outdoor 400 metre racetrack, the race begins on the curve and ends on the home straight, so a combination of techniques is needed to successfully run the race. A slightl ...

sprint events. In the 100m Michalski progressed through the first round, but finished 9th in the semifinal, failing to reach the finals. In the 200m he reached the finals, finishing eighth in a time of 22.75 seconds. Michalski's first major international success came at the

2011 IPC Athletics World Championships The 2011 IPC Athletics World Championships was held in Christchurch, New Zealand from January 21 to 30, 2011. Athletes with a disability competed, and the Championships was a qualifying event for the London 2012 Paralympic Games. Ove1000 athlete ...

in Christchurch, New Zealand. There he won both the 100m and 200m gold in the T12 category. The next year he competed in the

2012 IPC Athletics European Championships The 2012 IPC Athletics European Championships was a track and field competition for athletes with a disability open to International Paralympic Committee (IPC) affiliated countries within Europe. It was held in Stadskanaal, Netherlands and laste ...

in Stadskanaal, racing in the

– T12. In the final he beat Russia's

Fedor Trikolich Fedor Viktorovich Trikolich (; born 2 March 1985) is a visually impaired Russian sprinter. He competed at the 2008 and 2012 Paralympics and won two gold and a silver medal in 2012. He is also a multiple world and European champion, taking nine me ...

to take the European title. Two months later he competed at the

2012 Summer Paralympics The 2012 Summer Paralympics, branded as the London 2012 Paralympic Games, were an international multi-sport parasports event held from 29 August to 9 September 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. They were the 14th Summer Paralympic Gam ...

in London. In the

Michalski progressed through to the finals, but was beaten into second place by Trikoli. In the

he was placed into qualifier Heat 3 alongside Trikoli. In the heat he recorded a season's best of 22.13 to go through to the semi-finals in first place. Trikoli also qualified after recording a personal best, going through to the semis as one of the fastest losers. The two rivals met again in the semifinals in heat 2. Michalski recorded another season's beat with an improved time of 22.09, but this was not enough to beat Trikoli who produced another personal best to finish in 21.94. Michalski's time saw him qualify through to the final in the only fastest loser's position at the expense of

Yang Yuqing Yang Yuqing () is a Paralympian Track and field, athlete from China competing mainly in category T12 sprint events. He competed in the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing, People's Republic of China, China. There he won a gold medal in t ...

of China, who recorded a time of 22.30 in the first heat. The final, held on 8 September, saw Michalski run the 200m in a time of 21.56 setting a new world record, leaving Trikoli with the silver. His achievements in London saw Michalski named Disabled Athlete of the year at the 2013

Polish Sportspersonality of the Year The Polish Sports Personality of the Year (Polish: ''Plebiscyt Przeglądu Sportowego na najlepszego polskiego sportowca roku'') is chosen annually since 1926 by the readers of the newspaper ''Przegląd Sportowy'', which makes it the second oldest ...

on 11 January.

Awards and honours

He received the Cross of Merit from the president of Poland in 2013.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Michalski, Mateusz 1987 births Living people People from Września Polish male sprinters Paralympic athletes for Poland Athletes (track and field) at the 2008 Summer Paralympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2012 Summer Paralympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2016 Summer Paralympics Paralympic gold medalists for Poland Paralympic silver medalists for Poland World record holders in para-athletics Medalists at the 2012 Summer Paralympics Athletes from Greater Poland Voivodeship Recipients of the Cross of Merit (Poland) Medalists at the World Para Athletics Championships Medalists at the World Para Athletics European Championships Paralympic medalists in athletics (track and field) Paralympic sprinters Visually impaired sprinters