You had a good start in the Polish Championship and Polish Cup, but a weak one in the World Championship. What happened?

In the Polish Championship for the first time I decided to take part in such a high weight category. Until now my highest was 85 and I felt great in there, but I wanted to try something new, pick a bigger target. It turned out I have enough strength to take the first and second place. World Championship, however, is an entirely different matter. I was very surprised by the size of the competitors' hands and arms. In most cases they drop a few kilograms to reach their weight, while I had exactly 90 without dropping, and my height and arm reach is not suitable for this weight - I know that now! As for the performance itself, indeed a place below the first 20 is very disappointing, I had a big crisis and I couldn't deal with such a result. Analyzing my fights, I know I did everything I could, and my losses were only against the competitors from the top 5. With a bit of luck, the result would be completely different. But that's not what it's about! That's why I don't count on luck and I'm preparing to the max for the Professional World Cup!!

Wow! What's your attitude when going to Nemiroff, what are you feeling? I see you are pumped!

First of all in Nemiroff I'm going to compete in 86 kg, which gives me more chances than the 90 kg in the World Championship. I'm feeling incredibly motivated and determined. I want to once again prove to myself and others that I'm in good shape and I can easily compete against the best in the world. As for the Cup, I've been in it practically since 2004 and each time I'm honored that I can be among the strongest professionals in the world, fight against them and win.

What are you expecting, if anything, from Nemiroff?

Strong cast, wonderful fights by the Polish competitors, sensational victories, medals for our people, duel of giants in the open final and a strong position for myself.

Are you doing anything special to prepare for the World Cup?

3 weeks before the World Championship I've hurt my muscle attachment during sparing in a club. My strength was high, trained on weights, but I've lacked sparring and during one of them something snapped.

A quick intervention by a specialist doctor and an injection to the attachment healed the inflammation and made the arm usable. I practically haven't told anyone before the start, because why make a fuss? I'm trying to maintain the strength I built at the current level, but I'm sparing a lot more. Sparings are what gives me the most benefit! I'm working on speed, endurance, and improving my technique during these duels. Currently I'm already free of injuries and I can train to the max! The only annoyance are the so-called "professional" pains, that is, some old arm wrestling injuries. Sometimes they'll hurt in the attachment but I've learned to live with that and fight the best I can despite it. Changes in the fighting techniques, avoiding positions which hurt the most, helped a little. But maybe I shouldn't write about my weak points.

You're competing in Nemiroff and at the same time you're commentating in the Orange Sport. It's a bit like doing the splits. It probably isn't an easy task: you're competing, and simultaneously commentating the fights of your colleagues. Do you need some special skills for that? Do you have some way to distance yourself from this in a short time?

Competing is one thing, commentating is another. I'm trying to separate one from the other, although often it's not so easy. For a long time now, I haven't watched the finals live sitting in the audience, not in the World Cup, European Championship, nor the World Championship. Every time I sat in the commentator's booth in some remote and quiet corner of the hall. Not being there with the people, I have to feel that atmosphere, get excited by it and convey that excitement to the viewers - and that's not easy. But I love arm wrestling and I hope I'm doing well. Every year Paweł Podlewski and several other people ask me one question: "what am I going to do if I get to the finals?". Until now I haven't had that problem, but I'd really like to! Watching the competition I'm describing what I'm seeing, I fall into a kind of trance. I know each Polish competitor very well, as well as the world's top competitors, which allows me to commentate without browsing through websites or sheets of paper to search for information on a given competitor. I have it in my memory, which allows me to speak smoothly.

Iza Małkowska