Marek Twardowski

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Marek Twardowski (born 6 October 1979 in Białystok) is a Polish flatwater canoer and current (2006) world champion in the individual kayak (K1) 500m.

Twardowski was the outstanding kayak sprinter at the 1997 World Junior Championships in Lahti, Finland. He won the K1 500m gold medal as well as silver in the K1 1000m and bronze in the K2 500m with Klaudiusz Kokot.

The following year he formed a K2 partnership with Adam Wysocki and quickly established himself on the senior stage. At the 1999 European Championships in Zagreb the pair won gold medals in both the K2 200m and 500m. At the World Championships in Milan they became K2 500m champions and won two other medals.

Since then they have won six more world championship medals together, although they just missed out on a medal at both the Sydney and Athens Olympics, finishing 5th and then 4th in the K2 500m finals.

In 2005 they secured a third European gold, ending a frustrating run of silver and bronze medals. Competing in front of their home fans in Poznań they saw off the world's number one pair, Germany's Rauhe and Wieskötter in the K2 200m, reversing the placings in the earlier 500m final.

That Poznań meeting also saw Twardowski competing in Poland's four-man K4 1000m boat. They won the bronze medal, a result that was repeated at the 2005 World Championships in Zagreb.

2006 proved to be the twenty-six year-old Twardowski's most successful year to date as he won a first individual (K1) world title of his career. Selected to represent Poland in the K1 500m for the first time at the World Championships he won the gold medal in a time of 1:38.596, ahead of Russia's Anton Ryakhov. He also won two silver medals (K2 200m and K4 1000m). Ronald Rauhe was the only other male paddler to win three medals.

Twardowski, nicknamed Twardy, is 182cm (6'0) tall and weighs 85kg (187 lbs). He is a member of the Sparta Augustów club where he is coached by Andrzej Siemion.