Eight medals of mountain cyclists of the Silesian University of Technology in AMP!
Eight medals, including two gold medals, are the result of the excellent performance of mountain cyclists of the Silesian University of Technology in the Polish Academic Championships, which took place in Krakow.
The event took place in the Wolski Forest, only six kilometres from the Krakow Market Square. The competition was attended by 43 female and 125 male competitors from 38 universities.
The greatest success of the representatives of the Silesian University of Technology is gold medal in the individual time trial of Maksymilian Wiśniowski, who by 0.10 seconds overtook Maciej Kojro (University of Life Sciences in Wrocław). Thanks to this, the student of our University also reached for gold in the classification of technical universities, and in the main race for the bronze medal in the classification of technical universities. In this competition, however, he could talk about a lot of bad luck.
- “Being in the first position, he had to enter the technical box to fix the bike due to problems with the derailleur. When he returned to the route, he joined the fight in the fourth position and so he finished the race” – explains Ryszard Madaj, coach of mountain cyclists at the Sports Centre of the Silesian University of Technology.
However, in the main race, he was succeeded by Xavier Garnek, who won the bronze medal in the general classification. This rider also reached for the silver medal in the classification of technical universities and the bronze medal in the classification of technical universities in time trial.
- "Xavier was long in second place in the main race, but in the end, he ran out of strength. In addition, Jakub Grycman also had a problem with the bike, and in consequence lost a lot of time to repair it” – remembers the trainer.
However, this is not the end of success. The whole team of the Silesian University of Technology, consisting of: Jakub Grycman, Xavier Garnek, Julia Gajdzik, Bartłomiej Serafinowski, Małgorzata Włodarczyk, Maksymilian Wiśniowski and Wojciech Węglorz, who won the bronze in the general team classification and the silver in the team classification of technical universities performed very well. Coach Ryszard Madaj from the Sports Centre of the Silesian University of Technology is pleased with their attitude.
- “In the articles announcing this event there was not a word about our representatives. We were not considered favourites – either individually or as a team. After years of drought, this time we did very well. Maksymilian and Ksawier contributed to this success, I think that with a little luck, without the aforementioned equipment failures, we would even have a chance for gold in the team general classification” – says Ryszard Madaj.
Maksymilian and Ksawier are cycling lovers. Although they are currently taking part in road cycling, they have successfully trained mountain biking in clubs for a long time. Maksymilian in his career was already the vice-champion of Poland up to 23 in Cross Country Short Track, or the vice-champion of Poland up to 23 in the Polish Mountain Road Championships. Ksawier, on the other hand, became this year the Polish Champion in cross-country cycling for under 23 year-olds, and a bronze medallist of these championships in the elite category.
- “I have been training road cycling for over a year, so it was a big test for me after returning to another type of bike. However, I managed to plan the training with the trainer in such a way that the gold medal confirmed a good form. I am happy with this success, and I am very pleased with it” - says Maksymilian Wiśniowski, a student of the first year in the field of technical physics at the Institute of Physics - Centre for Science and Education at SUT. - “This is my 13th season of cycling. I have been training this sport since I was a child and although of course it was fun at first, it has now become something very important, which takes a lot of time.”
Photo by Alexandra Dixa Ryszard Madaj.
