Mateusz Kula is a student at our Faculty and a member of the Polish national orienteering team. He is the next guest of the #JestemzPWr #JestemzWIT series.

He started by training athletics. He first started in an orienteering run in 2015. That is when he felt he had found the sport for him. Since 2017, he was part of the national junior team, and since 2024, he has represented Poland in the senior team.

– My most challenging race? Portugal. Summer, 39°C ,clear sky. A route over 11 km long across large rock slabs, intersected by deep ravines, covered with dense vegetation. Technically demanding and exhausting. It took me over two hours, and I got lost at almost every point – recalls Mateusz Kula.

In orienteering, the route is not clearly marked. In the forest, only checkpoints are prepared. It is solely up to the runner how they get to each of them. The competitor is given the map with the route no sooner than at the start. That's when the decision-making and the battle with the terrain start. He has an electronic chip on his finger that measures time and confirms presence at checkpoints.

– Alone in the forest. With a map and compass in your hand, and a plan in mind, on how to reach the next checkpoints. Every step is a decision. After the second hill, turn left, then two stones, a bog... and the awaited checkpoint. There is no room for mistakes. A few seconds of hesitation can cost you a place on the podium – says Mateusz.

He has won several medals at the Polish Championships and travelled to the European Junior Championships, but this year he fulfilled one of his greatest dreams: he was selected for the World Championships in Finland – in one of the most challenging terrains in the world.

– I train seven times a week: strength, running, and technical skills, in the orienteering section of WKS Śląsk Wrocław. This sport allowed me to explore most of Europe and reach places that an ordinary tourist would never visit. Besides forest runs (both day and night), I also compete in city sprints, where the charming old towns serve as the arena for competition – adds our student.

This sport has its legends. At his first international competition as a junior, Mateusz Kula met Thierry Gueorgiou, who was ending his career. Eight years later, they met again – one as a senior runner, the other as the coach of the Finnish national team.