MOWA officially opened at Toruń Plaza

On Friday evening, the Museum of World Athletics was officially opened. It will be available to fans for one month at the Toruń Plaza shopping mall. The ceremony was attended by former track and field athletes, including world indoor high jump champion Kamila Lićwinko, two-time Olympic shot put champion Tomasz Majewski, four-time Olympic race walking champion Robert Korzeniowski, Olympic 4x100m relay champion Jason Gardener, President of the Polish Athletics Association Sebastian Chmara, as well as representatives of local authorities — Marshal Piotr Całbecki and Deputy Mayor of Toruń Adam Szponka. The event was also attended by Polish athletics rising star Anna Matuszewicz and the ambassador of the World Athletics Indoor Championships Kujawy Pomorze 26, Paweł Wojciechowski, who has a world championship title in pole vault among his achievements.

Chris Turner, the museum’s curator, expressed great joy that the exhibition has arrived in Toruń and can now be accessible to the residents of the Kujawy Pomorze region. Sebastian Chmara also did not hide his excitement, expressing hope that the World Athletics Indoor Championships will contribute to the development of athletics. “I hope that young people will come to the museum, feel inspired, see the medals, and want to achieve success in sport,” said Chmara.

The presence of Kamila Lićwinko and Tomasz Majewski was of special significance, as they donated their competition uniforms and shoes worn at major championships to the museum. The items were received on behalf of the organisers by Piotr Całbecki and Krzysztof Wolsztyński. “These exceptional artifacts are being handed over to the Museum of World Athletics by great track and field athletes. In addition to medals and bib numbers, we can also admire more than 100 jerseys from various national teams. I hope that in a month’s time, at the Kujawsko-Pomorska Arena Toruń, we will witness a great championships and that we will all cheer for Polish athletes in their fight for medals,” Całbecki concluded.

A special section of the exhibition is dedicated to the history of Polish athletics, featuring exhibits devoted to our hammer throw and discus champions, as well as unique documents such as the original 1919 letter applying for the admission of the Polish Athletics Association to the international federation. Polish highlights are also well represented among the exhibits. Fans will be able to see up close the spikes of Irena Szewińska and the shoes of Robert Korzeniowski.

Toruń Plaza has also become an arena of sport excitement in a literal sense. Full-scale installations have appeared throughout the shopping mall — visualisations of world records in the high jump and pole vault on elevator walls, showing just “how high the bar is set.” Visitors will also be able to see how far the world’s best athletes throw, with distances marked on the gallery floor.

The exhibition will be open to the public starting on Saturday, 21 February, daily from 9:00 21:00 until 22 March — the final day of the World Athletics Indoor Championships Kujawy Pomorze 26. Admission to the exhibition is free of charge.