Each day in the run up to the heptathlon in the 2021 European Indoor Championships in Toruń, Decathlonpedia has featured some of the athletes competing. Finally, the home favourite, seven-times Polish champion Paweł Wiesiołek. 

Paweł competed in his first ever decathlon in Toruń in 2011, and a decade later, the 29-year-old home favourite returns to Touń for his second European Indoor Championships. He started 2021 with an automatic place representing the home country, but he goes into the Championships with the No.2 score in the world – he’s no passenger along for the ride. 

Paweł is a veteran of European Indoors (Prague 2015), European outdoors (Amsterdam 2016 and Berlin 2018), World Championships (Beijing 2015 and Doha 2019) and an Olympian (Rio 2016).  While he first went over 8000 in 2015, it was only in March 2020 that he finally exceeded 6000 points indoors, and in February this year he set a PB – 6103 and second best score in the world behind Shkurenyev. 

Although approaching 30, Paw is still breaking new ground. This year he improved his 60m PB to 6.94, his shot to 15.63; and in 2020 he went over 5m for the first time in the pole vault both indoors and out. He is fast, a brilliant 2.10+ high jumper, a great 7.50+ long jumper, and a big thrower: over 15m, 50m and 60m in the shot, discus and javelin respectively. But he has never quite managed to put his talents together in the one place, pull out the big score and win a medal. 

Could a home medal in Toruń be Paweł’s big moment?

Photo: Olavi Kaljunen

Gabby Pieraccini

Brief athletics career peaked with a glorious medal for Glasgow University in the 4x200 relay in 1992 (look it up, it’s true, honest). Since then been talking about decathlon to anyone who will listen, or anyone who has ears. Civil servant in Edinburgh, Scotland. Loves to tell the stories of decathlon: the highs, the lows, the joy and the tears.

• Facebook
• Instagram
• Twitter