Polish teenager Bartosz Grabowski has been recognised for his outstanding canoe sprint performances in 2018 with a major award marking the 100th anniversary of the Polish Olympic Committee.
Grabowski was awarded the annual Eugeniusz Pietrasik Olympic Hope Prize during the New Year’s Olympic Family meeting in Warsaw on the weekend. Grabowski shared the award twith tennis player Iga Swiatek.
18-year-old Grabowski had an outstanding 2018, winning gold at the ICF Canoe Sprint Junior World Championships and at the European Canoe Sprint Junior Championships in the men’s K1 200.
He was also the 2018 European junior champion in the men’s K4 500 metres event, alongside Przemyslaw Korsarz, Filip Weckwert and Wojciech Tracz. The same team won the silver medal at the 2017 European Junior Championships.
Bartosz Grabowski continued a winning streak for young Polish kayakers. Last year the same prestigious award went to sprint paddlers Justyna Iskrzycka and Paulina Paszek.
Among the guests of the ceremony were the President of the Republic of Poland, Andrzej Duda, Minister of Sport and Tourism Witold Banka, representatives of the Embassy of the Republic of Japan and Polish Olympic medalists.
