Marek Twardowski

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

Twardowski was the outstanding kayak sprinter at the 1997 World Junior Championships in Lahti, Finland. He won the K1 500 m gold medal as well as silver in the K1 1000 m and bronze in the K2 500 m 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 200 m and 500 m. At the World Championships in Milan they became K2 500 m 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 500 m 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 200 m, reversing the placings in the earlier 500 m final.

That Poznań meeting also saw Twardowski competing in Poland's four-man K4 1000 m 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 500 m 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 200 m and K4 1000 m). 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.