Michał Derus

Michał Derus (born 21 September 1990) is a Polish track and field athlete, competing in the T47 disability classification for athletes with an impairment to a lower arm.[1]

Michał Derus 100m record: 10.72 s

Personal information
Birth name	Michał Mateusz Derus
Born	(1990-09-21) 21 September 1990 Tarnów, Poland
Sport
Disability class	T47
Club	AZS PWSZ Tarnow
Medal record Event 1st 2nd 3rd Paralympic Games 0 1 0 World Championships 2 2 1 European Championships 3 0 0 Men's athletics Representing  Poland Summer Paralympics 2016 Rio 100 m T47 World Championships 2013 Lyon 100 m T46 2013 Lyon 200 m T46 2015 Doha 100 m T47 2015 Doha 200 m T47 2017 London 100 m T47 European Championships 2014 Swansea 100 m T47 2014 Swansea 200 m T47 2016 Grosseto 100 m T47

Personal history

Derus was born in Tarnów, Poland in 1990.[2] Derus was born with dysmelia in his left hand which left it underdeveloped.[1]

Sporting history

Derus took up sport whilst in secondary school. He initially chose swimming but switched to athletics stating that he enjoyed the adrenaline rush in the build up to a race. He wanted to compete in Parasport events, but a ruling disqualified him from being classified. In 2008 he was on the verge of quitting athletics but was persuaded to remain by his coach who believed the ruling would be overturned in the future.[1]

In 2013 Derus was finally able to compete in para athletics and was classified as a T47 sprinter. He entered his first major international competition that year, representing Poland at the 2013 IPC Athletics World Championships in Lyon. There he won a gold in the 100 metre sprint and a silver in the 200 metre.[1] He followed this with double gold in both events at the 2014 IPC Athletics European Championships in Swansea. In 2015 he successfully defended his World 100 metre title in Doha, and again won silver in the 200 metres. The 2015 World Championships also saw Derus compete in the long jump, finishing ninth with a distance of 6.24m.[1]

In 2016 he travelled to Rio to competed in the 2016 Summer Paralympics. He competed in the 100 metre sprint and the long jump. Although failing to qualify through the heats of the long jump, finishing 11th overall, he finished second in the heats of the 100m to take him through to the finals. In the finals, he posted a time of 10.79 seconds in a photo finish for the silver medal behind Brazil's Petrúcio Ferreira.[1] 2016 also saw Derus claim a second European medal with victory in the 100 metres in Grosseto.

References

1. "Derus, Michal Mateusz". Retrieved 10 July 2016.
2. "Athlete profile: Derus, Michal". paralympic.org. Retrieved 10 July 2016.