The 2022 Virtus World Half Marathon concluded today in the beautiful city of Viseu in Portugal. The event was organised by Virtus member ANDDI- PORTUGAL. The tournament took place as a part of the famous Mega Maratona de Viseu. Fifteen athletes with intellectual impairments took part in the event and ran alongside 700 other athletes.

The host nation kept the spotlight on them and won both male and teams championship title.

Men’s II1

Cristiano Pereira from Portugal was the World Champion in Men’s II1 category.

“I am very proud because I could repeat my win and defended my World Championship title successfully. I am now a two times Virtus World Champion in Half-Marathon. My happiness also doubled because I won in my home country, in my region. 

The Portuguese athlete also described how hard he was training for this tournament, practising twice daily and also over the weekend.

Asia Santos from Spain grabbed the Silver in the same event and Mohamed Harsh from Denmark made it to the final spot on the podium.

Women’s II1

In the Women’s II1 category, Anna Bodziony won the Championship title and was followed by Monica Wyrobek in second place. Both were representing Poland.

Men’s II3

In II3, although Alexander Neilson from Denmark was the only participant in his category, he had a marvellous race and finished overall fourth, including both athletes with and without impairments. He was awarded the Gold medal in his category.

Team event

In Teams event, the Portuguese men took the trophy this year. The team consisted of Christiano Pereira, Paulo Benevente, João Monteiro and Luis Pimentel.

For full results, visit Mega Maratona website.

The Portuguese won the men’s II1 Handball final match today against Poland by 26-23. The Portuguese stayed undefeated for the fourth time in the past nine years.

At the Virtus European Summer Games 2022 in Cracow Poland, both teams kept their defence high in the first half, giving very few opportunities for the opponent to score. By the end of the first half, the Portuguese team was leading 11-10.

But in the second half, the Portuguese stepped up the attacking whilst keeping a strong defence.

“We played against a strong team today but I am very happy that the team worked together and we won the title” said the team coach, Antonio Pereira.

The host team repeatedly tried to make a comeback and pulled the score to 20-25 in the 55th minute of the match. However, they could not stand against the aggressive Portuguese team and lost the match by 26-23.

Best Goalkeeper award- Miguel Meireles (Por)

Top goal scorer award- Kamil Bak (Pol)

Best player- Fabio Moleiro (Por)

 

Besides the temperature in the city of Cracow, what else is rising? The performance of Virtus athletes!!

Three more World Records were broken today in the II1 swimming events (short course).

French swimmers broke two records in one race

Spanish swimmers finish with a blaze

The Spanish II1 women’s relay team gave another thrilling performance to the crowd today by breaking their second relay record. Coronado Tejeda Eva, Galache Arellano Ariadna, Zalve Maier Sara and Perez Suarez Laura once again showed a stunning team effort by setting the new record in the Women’s II1 4x50m Freestyle relay with the timing of 2:01.93secs.

“After breaking the records yesterday, I believe the girls gained much spirit and confidence which helped them create this new record”,  the Spanish team coach Celia mentioned.

 

 

Bulgarian athlete Angelova Radena scripted history today by winning the very first Virtus medal for Bulgaria in Women’s II2 Triathlon event.

With a total of eight athletes, team Bulgaria participated in their first event ever at the 2022 Virtus European Summer Games.

“It is a perfect moment for me because I have won my first medal which is also my country’s first medal.”

Angelova dedicated her medal to her coach.

Talking to Virtus, the Bulgarian coach expressed how special the medal is,  not just for the athlete, but also for the entire country.

“I feel very proud of my athletes today. They were participating for the first time so we didn’t have any expectations but Angelova made me extremely happy with her result. Virtus competitions are all about elite performance and our athletes were not that good. For about eight years we have been trying to improve their performance and they finally qualified for the Virtus European Games.”

“It was a very long journey for us and this is something very big for Bulgaria and it will motivate all the athletes back there to push their limits, improve their performance and give a new start for the elite performance sports back in the country,” the team coach said.

II2 is a class for athletes with an intellectual disability and additional functional impairment.

Nathan Maillet sets new World Records

Nathan Maillet from France broke the World record in 100m Freestyle mens with a timing of 53.74secs. Talking to Virtus, the swimmer mentioned his strategy for his race.

“When we arrived there, I had a staff at my service and, in fact, we established a major strategy with Bertrand Sebire, national coach. The strategy was that I go unnoticed compared to other swimmers. I correctly followed my strategy and that’s how I was able to break the world record. For me, it was crazy and frankly, I still have trouble believing that I actually did it.”

Two more World Records for Spanish Team

It was another thrilling day for the Spanish swimming team on the second day of the 2022 Virtus European Summer Games.

The full results can be accessed from here. 

The Virtus European Summer Games 2022 were officially declared open today in Cracow, Poland at the WKS Wawel stadium. This is the second edition of the Virtus European Regional Games hosted by Virtus Polish member SPRAWNI-RAZEM .

The ceremony began at 18:00 CEST on 17 July and was attended by the Mayor of the Royal City of Cracow, Jacek Majchrowski, who took the honorary patronage over the 2nd Virtus European Summer Games.

The Honorary Committee of the Games comprises of the advisor to the President of the Republic of Poland – Paulina Malinowska-Kowalczyk, President of the Polish Paralympic Committee – Łukasz Szeliga, Minister of Sport & Tourism – Kamil Bortniczuk, President of the Polish Athletics Association – Henryk Olszewski, President of the Polish Basketball Association – Radosław Piesiewicz and President of the Polish Tennis Association- Mirosław Skrzypczyński.

Expressing her excitement for the games, the President of the Republic of Poland – Paulina Malinowska-Kowalczyk said, “The 2022 Virtus Summer Games, Cracow dedicated to athletes with an intellectual impairment will gather nearly 600 players from over 18 countries who will compete in nine disciplines. So, it is going to be an extraordinary celebration of sports. I am very pleased that this group will also include medalists from the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games.”

Mr. Dariusz Mosakowski, President of SPRAWNI-RAZEM giving his welcome speech

“We were very excited to win the bid to host the 2022 European Summer Games in Poland in 2018, but we did not foresee the Covid-19 pandemic and the terrible war beyond our eastern border. Despite many adversities, with a huge organisational effort, we managed to prepare such a large event. Thank you to everyone who accepted our invitation to take part in the event.” said Mr. Dariusz Mosakowski, President of SPRAWNI-RAZEM.

Addressing the crowd, Virtus President, Marc Truffaut said,  “The first edition of the European Games was in Paris, France in 2018 and it’s a pleasure for me to be here in Cracow, Poland for the 2nd edition. Four years ago we opened the way to the regional games and this year we have two regional games – in Cracow, Poland for the European region and in Brisbane, Australia for the Oceania-Asia region, and I think it’s all because of our fantastic athletes and the dedicated volunteers and member organisation.”

“I would like to thank the host member- SPRAWNI-RAZEM and the people of Poland for hosting us all for the game.”

The event is taking place from 16 to 24 July. The championship will be attended by representatives of eighteen countries from the European region including Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, Iceland, Israel, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, and Turkey who will compete across nine sports. Invited athletes from Australia will compete in the Tennis event and athletes from Ecuador will join in the Cycling event.

The nine sports on offer are athletics, swimming, table tennis, basketball, handball, tennis, cycling, rowing, and badminton, a new discipline in the Virtus competition calendar. The competitions will be organized at the sports facilities of the city of Cracow – WKS Wawel Stadium, KS Cracovia 100th Anniversary Hall with the Disabled Sports Center, KS Bronowianka sports hall, Sports and Recreation Center Kolna, and the AWF Cracow Swimming Pool. Cycling, on the other hand, will take place near Kraków in the Niepołomice Forest.

The Ministry of Sport and Tourism, the City of Cracow, the Sports Infrastructure Authority in Cracow and the Waterworks of the City of Cracow are the supporting partners of the games.

Media coverage for the championship will be provided by TVP Sport, TVP3 Cracow and Parasportowcy.pl.

For more information about the games, please visit the Virtus European Summer Games website www.vesg.eu