Michal Niewinski

Club / Team	Juvenia Bialystok: Poland
Name of coach	Urszula Kaminska [club, national], POL; Gregory Durand [national], FRA

www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100005878123143

Hero / Idol	Polish short track speed skater Patrycja Maliszewska. (Instagram profile, 16 Mar 2023)
Awards and honours	He was one of several athletes to receive a Best Athlete of 2022 award in Bialystok, Poland. (Instagram profile, 30 Jun 2023) He received the Olympic Hope award for 2022 at the Podlaskie Olympic Gala in Poland. (Instagram profile, 18 Feb 2023; podlaskie24.pl, 04 Mar 2023)
Milestones	He and teammates Pawel Adamski, Lukasz Kuczynski and Diane Sellier became the first male short track skaters representing Poland to win a medal at the European championships when they claimed bronze in the 5000m relay at the 2023 edition of the tournament in Gdansk, Poland. (gdansk.pl, 15 Jan 2023; SportsDeskOnline, 27 Oct 2023) He became the first short track skater representing Poland to win gold at the world junior championships when he claimed victory in the men's 500m at the 2023 edition of the tournament in Dresden, Germany. (sport.pl, 28 Jan 2023; SportsDeskOnline, 27 Oct 2023)

When and where did you begin this sport?

When I was one year and two months old, my parents took me ice skating for the first time. This was due to the fact that my parents and my siblings had already come to the ice rink. And while I wasn't walking yet, my walking skills weren't advanced, I had already started skating on hockey skates. I started my adventure with short track when I was five to six years old. At that time, I was skating recreationally at our ice rink, and coach Darek Kulesza saw that I was skating and that I was quite talented, and he invited me to my first short track training. And from that moment on I have been associated with it, I think for the rest of my life."