World record in Lodz! Son of Kozakiewicz’s rival, who could jump for Poland

During the meeting in 17-year-old Wo³kow already a year ago set the indoor world record. He jumped 5.60 which he scored in the last, third attempt. – It’s a great achievement for me, I can’t believe it. But I can jump even higher – then Wo³kow told us.

World record up to 18 years broken again in Lodz. 5.61 Wollkow!

And as he announced, he did so. A year later he appeared again during the Orlen Cup in Lodz and in the second attempt he scored 5.61, thanks to which he improved his own indoor record up to the age of 18 and of course his life record.

Matwiej is the son of Konstantin Wo³kow, silver medalist at the Olympic Games in Moxwa. The Russian then lost to W³adys³aw Kozakiewicz, and the Pole became famous for his two gestures of “shaft” after his jumps. Years later, he said that they were not aimed at his greatest rival.

– I have always believed that the best player wins and the victories gave me enough satisfaction. Activists ordered to lie about this gesture. There was a scandal, they threatened that I might lose my medal. I wanted to say everything right away. The day after the competition we were with Tadek ¦lusarski and Mariusz Klimczyk at the editor Tomasz Hopfer. Before the interview, he showed the audience my decisive leap. The gesture was clearly visible, so I started to say “and that was” and then Hopfer kicked me under the table. Perhaps it is good that he did it, because I found out that for the Russians my behavior was a great offense. But if the journalists there asked me about this situation, I would certainly tell them the truth, Kozakiewicz pointed out.

After his career, he got on well with Wo³kow. – Before Moscow, he wanted to destroy us, he said that he would give us pains at the Olympics. And now we are buddies, there is no envy between us – explained Kozakiewicz. And what was the relationship between Matwiej and daddy Konstantin? – My father inspired me, but he didn’t say I had to jump. He didn’t convince me that way. It was my choice, I love to do it – said Matwiej Wo³kow in Lodz.

The son of Kozakiewicz’s rival does not look at Duplantis. But he was even better than the world record holder

According to data provided on Twitter by the account of the French track and field coach from Metz PJ Vazel, which he collected from Konstantin Wołkow Matwiej, until the age of 17 he was developing even better than the best pole vault jumper in the world,.

He jumped higher at the age of 14 – 4.90 at Duplantis 4.74, at the age of 15 – 5.50 at 5.30 Swede, and also 16 when he was 5.60, and “Mondo” 5.51. Now, however, the greatest challenge lies ahead of Wo³kow. It was at the age of 17 that the current world record holder already achieved 5.90 – he went up by 40 centimeters. For Wo³kow, it will probably take a little longer. In Lodz, after correcting the world record to the age of 18 out of 5.61, he had three more attempts out of 5.71 and he did not manage to beat this amount. – I do not look at the jumpers with whom I am competing at the moment. I will talk to them, I share a cloakroom with them, but I am Matwiej Wo³kow. I look at what I can do better and I concentrate on it – explained Wo³kow.

Wo³kow was able to jump for Poland. “We were even agreed”

Wołkow did this, but due to the problems of the local federation and its uncertain future for the next years in athletics, he decided to change his citizenship from Russian to Belarusian. He lived in Irkutsk, Siberia, and moved 5,000 kilometers to Minsk.

Interestingly, Wo³kow could have chosen not, but Poland. – The Polish union has been interested in me for a long time. We talked, we even reached an agreement, but at the last moment they said “goodbye” and I went to the Belarusians – said Wolkow in an interview for Sport.pl.

We asked about the stakeholder of the Polish Athletics Association, but received no answer. And if it is true, it is a pity that Poles would lose such a talent, if they were willing, to be here. – The Poles decided so, I had no influence on it – the player confirmed. So far, he has a very positive image of Poland. However, he is probably dreaming about the fact that two indoor world records under the age of 18 would translate into greater and greater development. And results like Duplantis, even if he doesn’t follow his methods.