Russian who became Polish. This is our greatest Olympic hope

What to hide here, Vladimir Semirunnin is one of our greatest, if not the greatest hope for a medal during next year’s Winter Olympic Games. These will take place in Italy, in the cities of Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo and their surroundings.

Vladimir Semirunnin with Polish citizenship. The Russian will go for Poland

We described the story of the talented pancake in the pages of directly in December 2024. The fast skating semirunnini then received permission to represent Poland in international competitions.

The Russian has lived in Poland since 2023. At that time, the 21 -year -old decided to leave Russia in the face of war in Ukraine, which was met with a negative reception from his compatriots. It is worth adding that Semirunnius officially condemned the aggression of Russian troops to our eastern neighbors.

A player from Ekaterinburg has already gained, among others Two medals at the World Championships for the Polish national team. He won this year’s albums for 10 km (silver) and 5 km (bronze). It is now known that he will be able to represent Poland also on the way to next year’s Games in Italy.

– I am full of joy, full of emotions and it’s hard for me to express some words and gratitude. Now I have all open roads and I can do what I want and I want to win the Medal of the Olympic Games. This is possible thanks to the Polish passport. Poland took me like a child. It is true that I was more nervous before granting a residence card, but I tried not to think about it, because everyone convinced me that I would get this passport. The relationship did a great job and I am very grateful for it, because the whole procedure lasted less than two years! Now I can only fight for the Olympic qualification and then for a medal. What color? Of course, the golden, I always fight for victory – admitted with conviction Semirunni, quoted by the official website of the Polish Fast Skating Association.

The Federation director is also not hidden. Konrad Niedźwiedzki, who strongly sought for a positive ending of the difficult process of fighting for Polish citizenship for such a talented mentee.

– It’s a beautiful moment for Władek, because he waited a long time and this time, looking at the previous season, was nervous. We are glad that the procedure has passed as we wanted, i.e. before the season he can easily prepare for the most important starts, and in the World Cups he will fight for good results, records and Olympic qualification for himself as a Pole (…) We also thank the President of the Republic of Poland, who quickly signed the documents after the equally efficient check of Władka by the service. It was of course a formality, but now we are calm. I hope that Władek will pay off this debt of trust with his good performances, also at the Games – admitted the sports director of PZŁS, in the past, among others Bronze medalist of the Olympic Games in Sochi (2014).

It is worth recalling that Poland has a total of 23 Olympic medals in the winter edition. During the last event in Beijing (2022), only one brown disc returned to the country. His winner was the ski jumper Dawid Kubacki, who stood on the podium thanks to a successful competition on a normal hill in the capital of China.