Szymon Sowinski

Started: He began competing in shooting Para sport in 2013 in Zielona Gora, Poland. (naszesprawy.eu, 21 Jan 2023; zielonagora.wyborcza.pl, 01 Aug 2016) Reason: He was a recreational shooter before he acquired his impairment. He took up shooting Para sport as part of his rehabilitation. "For me it was a natural course of events that I would go to the shooting range as part of rehabilitation. Sport is my passion." (naszesprawy.eu, 21 Jan 2023; aktywnirazem.eurobeskidy.org.pl, 01 Oct 2020; paralympic.org.pl, 08 Sep 2016) Ambition: To compete at the 2024 Paralympic Games in Paris. (Start Zielona Gora Facebook page, 13 Sep 2023) Milestones: He became the first shooter representing Poland to win a medal at the Paralympic Games when he claimed silver in the SH1 25m pistol at the 2020 Paralympic Games in Tokyo. (paralympic.org, 02 Sep 2021; SportsDeskOnline, 20 Jul 2022) Awards: He was named 2022 Athlete of the Year by the Polish Paralympic Committee. (naszesprawy.eu, 21 Jan 2023) In 2022 he was named Male Para Athlete of the Year by the Przeglad Sportowy newspaper in Poland. (naszesprawy.eu, 21 Jan 2023) Additional Info: NEW APPROACH POST-RIO Following his participation at the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro he started working with a psychologist and began incorporating running into his training regime. At the 2020 Paralympic Games in Tokyo he became the first shooter representing Poland to win a Paralympic medal. "After Rio, I started working with psychologist Marzanna Herzig. Then it began to dawn on me that shooting training alone was not enough to win medals. I wanted to bring out even more of myself, hence the beginning of cooperation with [Russian race walker] Ilya Markov. We started running." (naszesprawy.eu, 21 Jan 2023)