Stanisław Kowalski

Stanisław Kowalski (born 14 April 1910) is a Polish Masters athlete. When he competed at the Polish Veterans Championships on 28 June 2015 in Torun, Poland he became the worlds oldest athlete.^[1] On that day, Kowalski ran the 100 metres in 34.50, threw the shot put 4.27 m (14 ft 0 in) and the discus 7.50 m (24 ft 7 ¹⁄₄ in).^[2] By competing in those events, he surpassed the accomplishments of John Whittemore, who competed at 104 years 10 months. By virtue of his age being beyond 105 years old, he necessitates the creation of a new age division for World Masters Athletics, the M105 division of which he is the only member to have competed. Thus all of his performances are world records. M100 world record holder Hidekichi Miyazaki turned 105 on 22 September 2015 and two days later joined Kowalski as the second competitor in the division^[3] though Kowalski was 77 days older when he competed.

When he was 104 years old, the Daily Mail did this Video on YouTube feature on him.^[4] At that time he was lauded as the oldest person in Europe to run 100m after running a race in Wroclaw, Poland on 10 May 2014^[5] and became the European record holder in the event, beating the previous record by a second.^[6] He credits his longevity to never going to the doctor and doing whatever he wants.^[7][8] He also says not to eat much during the evening (see Video on YouTube).

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