With the participation of nearly 1,400 athletes from 90 countries, the Olympic Class Sailing World Championships began on Thursday (2 August) in Aarhus, Denmark.
For two weeks, 37 Poles will fight for our country’s qualification for the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020. However, our team consists of 38 players. Maks Żakowski (MKR Tramp Mielno), as the only representative of Poland, will compete in kiteboarding, which was included for the first time in the programme of the 4-year event (this sport discipline will have its Olympic debut in Paris in 2024). A 24-year-old Maks Żakowski of Mielno is sponsored by the Firmus Group, a Norwegian developer investing in Mielno and Koszalin.
This is how Stein Christian Knutsen, Firmus CEO, explains the reasons why the company decided to once again provide support to a young athlete: Sport is important for building local patriotism, building identity and pride in the place where we live. At the same time, in sports we can observe large disproportions in capabilities. Some countries, clubs or organisations can boast of almost unlimited budgets that others can only dream about. It is against the principle of fair play… Athletes who, despite material hardship, achieve the best results in the world are real heroes. Such talents are rare. Maks is one of them. This is not the first time that we help Maks. Just like we have supported kitesurfing and other sport disciplines for many years. Firmus and I personally believe that it is our duty to share success and work for the local communities as best we can. This is why we support Max and wish him success during the World Championships and in the future, the Olympic gold medal. He can achieve it! What a joy and pride this would be for Mielno, Koszalin and Poland!