During the National Athletics Meeting and U16 combined-events competition held in Chojnice on 22–23 August, Bolesłavia athlete Mateusz Tofil showed on the very first day that breaking the Polish record was possible this time. With a long jump of 6.46 m, he left his rivals far behind, finishing more than a metre ahead of the next competitor.
The Bolesławiec resident also set personal bests in the shot put (10.26 m) and javelin throw (46.55 m). Mateusz did not waste his opportunity and, running 1000 m in 2:56.12, scored 3902 points in the heptathlon, improving the previous Polish record by 42 points.
Setting the Polish record was made possible by the hard work of both the athlete and his coaches: Paweł Wiśniewski and Tomasz Markowski. The former helped prepare Mateusz for the high jump, while the latter worked with him on the throwing events.
– Mateusz has enormous potential. He is capable of achieving truly great results. However, he must start taking everything he does more seriously—both sport and other areas of life. If he begins to behave this way, he may bring us a great deal of joy in the future, coach Bartosz Gruman said after the competition.
Dariusz Łomański/ii