Marek Kania

Club / Team

Legia Warszawa: Poland

Hobbies	Playing the keyboard and drums, reading, knitting. (Facebook page, 20 Nov 2021; sport.onet.pl, 26 Oct 2021)
Other sports	He has represented Poland in roller speed skating, and competed at the world championships in 2018, 2019, and 2022. (SportsDeskOnline, 09 Nov 2022; Facebook page, 20 Nov 2021)
Famous relatives	His siblings Mateusz and Maria have both represented Poland in roller speed skating. (sport.tvp.pl, 11 Feb 2022, 14 Nov 2021; SportsDeskOnline, 10 Nov 2022)

Name of coach

Pawel Abratkiewicz [national], POL

Other information

DUAL SKATING DISCIPLINES He has also represented Poland in roller speed skating. "Certainly in summer it will be roller skates and in winter ice skates. As long as I am able to combine the two and get good results, which it looks like I can, I would not want to only choose one. There are athletes who have been successful both in roller skating and speed skating. Last year [2020] I wanted to quit ice skating and there was a plan to focus only on inline skating. I went to the Polish speed skating championships. It was supposed to be my last competition in the sport, I only wanted to get some points for the club. However, I had some good results and [coach] Konrad Niedzwiedzki noticed them. He offered me a place on a training camp with the sprint team. I took advantage of this and trained with them, did my best and was invited to the national speed skating team." (sport.onet.pl, 26 Oct 2021) BALANCING SPORT AND STUDY Ahead of the 2022 Olympic Winter Games in Beijing, he took a break from his studies in automation and robotics at the Warsaw University of Technology in Poland. He had previously taken a study break to train in inline skating in Italy, but was forced to return home due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. "I have been studying at the university for four years [speaking in 2021], but only one year full-time. After I finished my first year, I took study leave and went to Italy with my siblings to train in inline skating. When I resumed my second year, all my classes were conducted remotely, which in a way made it easier for me to combine studying and training, because I could be at sports camps and complete everything at the same time. Now that full-time studies are back, I would not be able to devote myself entirely to training. Combining studying at WUT with high-level training is not easy and you often have to deal with things individually. Fortunately, most of the professors take kindly to my situation." (pw.edu.pl, 09 Nov 2021; sport.onet.pl, 26 Oct 2021)

www.facebook.com/Marek-Kania-101772192339299

Memorable sporting achievement

Competing at the 2022 Olympic Winter Games in Beijing. (polsatsport.pl, 08 Jan 2022)