Mieczysław Wnuk

Mieczysław Wnuk
nation	Poland
birthday	January 1, 1917
place of birth	Zakopane ,  Austria-Hungary
date of death	April 20, 2010
Place of death	Cincinnati , Ohio ,  USA
Career
society	TS Wisła Zakopane
National squad	since 1936
End of career	1939
Medal table
National medals 1 × 5 × 0 ×
Participant in the Nordic Combined  Polish championships gold 1938 Zakopane singles silver 1939 Zakopane singles Participants in cross-country skiing  Polish championships silver 1936 Zakopane 4 × 10 km relay silver 1938 Zakopane 18 km silver 1938 Zakopane 4 × 10 km relay silver 1939 Zakopane 4 × 10 km relay

Mieczysław Wnuk (born January 1, 1917 in Zakopane , † April 20, 2010 in Cincinnati ) was a Polish Nordic skier .

Career

Wnuk was born on New Year's Day 1917 as the son of Jan Wnuk and Józefa Krzeptowska-Wnuk in Zakopane . His father was a famous chef and restaurateur who had owned the Wnuk Inn on Kościeliska Street since 1907 . The building is still a listed building today . He grew up with his brother Włodzimierz , who later became known as a writer and publicist.

Wnuk started skiing as a child, although the rules of his school had forbidden it. After graduating from school, Wnuk began studying law at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow . Therefore, he was later entitled to take part in the academic world championships, which served as the forerunner of today's Universiade . First, Wnuk, who started for Wisła Zakopane , competed in Polish championships. Together with Jan Bochenek , Marian Woyna-Orlewicz and Michał Górski , he won the silver medal in the 4 × 10 km relay race in 1936. Two years later he was Polish champion in Nordic combined and runner-up in 18 × km cross-country skiing and with the relay. A few weeks later he took part in the Nordic World Ski Championships in 1938 in Lahti , where he competed in all Nordic skiing disciplines. He finished 150th in cross-country skiing over 18 kilometers, 96th in ski jumping and 21st in Nordic combined.

He had his most successful year at international level in 1939. So he reached eighth place in the combined competition at the Nordic World Ski Championships in 1939 in Zakopane . In the 18 × km cross-country skiing, he finished 59th. About a week later he took part in the academic world championships in Lillehammer , where he finished fifth in ski jumping and sixth in cross-country skiing over 18 kilometers. He also won the Nordic Combined competition, which was the greatest success of his career.

Due to the Second World War , Wnuk could not continue his career. Instead, he provided courier services during the first months of the war. In 1940 he managed to escape to France, where he joined the first Polish division of the French army. In addition, after difficult years in which he was temporarily imprisoned in Saragossa , he joined the British Army in Gibraltar in 1944 .

After the war, he completed his degree at the Polish Law Faculty at Oxford University . In 1946 he successfully completed his studies, but did not return to Poland due to communism . In 1950 Wnuk immigrated to the United States , where he started a family.

memories

In 2006 he published his memoirs " Z Kościeliskiej do Anglii: wojenna tułaczka ", which were published in Krakow.

Web links

• Wojciech Szatkowski: Mieczysław Wnuk on historiawisly.pl (Polish)
• Mieczyslaw M. Wnuk , from obits.nj.com, accessed September 28, 2019
• Adam Kwieciński: Mieczysław Wnuk in the database of wyniki-skoki.hostingasp.pl (Polish)

Individual evidence

1. ^ "Z Kościeliskiej do Anglii: wojenna tułaczka", Mieczysław Wnuk (2006) , on historiawisly.pl, accessed on September 28, 2019 (Polish).