Marek Galiński (1 August 1974 – 17 March 2014) was a Polish professional mountain biker and road racing cyclist. During his sporting career, he won nine Polish national championship titles and a silver medal in men's cross-country racing at the 2003 UCI World Cup series in

Sankt Wendel Sankt Wendel is a town in northeastern Saarland. It is situated on the river Blies 36 km northeast of Saarbrücken, the capital of Saarland, and is named after Saint Wendelin of Trier. According to a survey by the German Association for Ho ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. Galinski also represented his nation

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

in four editions of the Olympic Games (1996, 2000, 2004, and 2008), where he competed in men's mountain biking from the time that it officially became an Olympic sport in 1996. Galinski raced professionally for more than five seasons on the JBG2 Professional MTB Team. After his retirement from the sport in 2011, Galinski worked as an assistant coach of both Polish and Russian mountain bike national teams. Upon his return from a training camp in Cyprus on 17 March 2014, Galinski was suddenly killed in a car accident near Jędrzejów.

Racing career

Galinski made his official international debut for

at the

1996 Summer Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

, where he finished twenty-ninth in the inaugural men's cross-country race with a time of 2:45:54. At the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 (Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from 1 ...

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

, Galinski further excelled his cross-country ride from Atlanta with a twenty-first-place effort in the same program, posting an official time of 2:17:35. In 2001, Galinski turned himself into an elite professional rider by signing an exclusive sponsorship contract with the Lotto-PZU cycling team, followed by short stints on the and MTB teams. Later the mountain biker's career flourished with his early career highlight the earning of a silver medal at the UCI World Cup series in

, trailing behind leader and Swiss rider Christoph Sauser by eleven seconds. While competing for his third Polish squad at the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

, Galinski scored a career-high, fourteenth place in the men's cross-country race with a time of 2:22:14, edging out Austria's Christoph Soukup on the final lap by a 36-second limit. In that same year, Galinski grabbed his first ever Polish national championship title in men's mountain biking, and mounted a top-five finish at the

UCI World Championships The UCI world championships are annual competitions promoted by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) to determine world champion cyclists. They are held in several different styles of racing, in a different country each year. Championship winne ...

Les Gets Les Gets () is a Communes of France, commune in the Haute-Savoie Departments of France, department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Regions of France, region in south-eastern France. The village's first single-person chair lift was opened in 1938 wi ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. Twelve years after his official Olympic debut, Galinski qualified for his fourth Polish squad, as a 34-year-old and the nation's cycling team captain, in the men's cross-country race at the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Na ...

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

by receiving an automatic berth for his team from the

Polish Cycling Federation The Polish Cycling Federation or PZKol (in Polish: ''Polski Związek Kolarski'') is the national governing body of cycle racing in Poland. The PZK is a member of the UCI and the UEC. It is based at the BGŻ Arena in Pruszków. See also * Poli ...

( pl, Polski Związek Kolarski) and

Union Cycliste Internationale The ''Union Cycliste Internationale'' (UCI; ; en, International Cycling Union) is the world governing body for sports cycling and oversees international competitive cycling events. The UCI is based in Aigle, Switzerland. The UCI issues racing ...

(UCI), based on his best performance at the World Cup series, World Championships, and Mountain Biking World Series. Galinski lost a spirited challenge against Great Britain's

Oliver Beckingsale Oliver James Beckingsale (born 7 June 1976 in Backwell, Bristol), is an ex-professional mountain biker. He represented Britain at the Olympic Games in 2000, 2004 and 2008, and England at the Commonwealth Games in 2002 and 2006. He retired from ...

, but managed to pick up a thirteenth spot to complete a 4.8-km sturdy, treacherous cross-country course in 2:01:29, recording the highest position in his entire Olympic career. Shortly after the Olympics, Galinski continued to ride for the JBG2 Professional MTB Team, and eventually accepted an offer from the Polish and Russian mountain bike teams to be their assistant coach. Indeed, he coached the women's national team at the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

Death

On 17 March 2014, just shortly after midnight, Galinski had reportedly landed in

Kraków Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 1596 ...

upon his return from a training camp in

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is geo ...

and was driving a car to his hometown

Opoczno Opoczno ) is a town in south-central Poland, in eastern part of Łódź Voivodeship (since 1999), previously in Piotrków Trybunalski Voivodeship (1975–1998). It has a long and rich history, and in the past it used to be one of the most importa ...

, when he skidded off the road going around the bend and hit a tree through the outskirts of Jędrzejów. Rescuers had to free him with hydraulic tools upon releasing him from a traffic collision, but his injuries proved fatal after being taken to the hospital. Galinski died in a car accident at the age of 39.

Career achievements

;1996 : 1st MaillotPolonia

Polish MTB Championships (Cyclo-cross, U23),

Nowogard Nowogard () ( csb, Nowògard; formerly german: Naugard) is a town in northwestern Poland, in the West Pomeranian Voivodeship. it had a population of 16,733. Name ''Nowogard'' is a combination of two Slavic terms: novi (new) and gard, which is P ...

(POL) : 29th

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...

( Cross-country),

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

, (USA) ;1998 : 3rd Polish MTB Championships (Cyclo-cross),

Ełk Ełk (; former pl, Łek; german: Lyck; Old Prussian: ''Luks''; lt, Lukas), also spelled Elk in English, is a small city in northeastern Poland with 61,677 inhabitants as of December 2021. It was assigned to Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship in 1999, ...

(POL) ;2000 : 2nd Stage 6,

Bałtyk–Karkonosze Tour The Bałtyk–Karkonosze Tour is a cycling race in West Poland that runs between the Baltic Sea and the Karkonosze. The first edition was held in 1993 as an amateur race as the Karkonosze Tour with stages in the Wałbrzych Voivodeship and Jelenia ...

Jelenia Góra Jelenia Góra (pron. ; Polish: ; german: Hirschberg im Riesengebirge; Exonym: ''Deer Mountain''; szl, Jelyniŏ Gōra) is a historic city in southwestern Poland, within the historical region of Lower Silesia. Jelenia Góra is situated in the Low ...

(POL) : 3rd Stage 5, Tour of Macedonia,

Strumica Strumica ( mk, Струмица, ) is the largest city2002 census results
in English and Macedon ...

(MKD) : 21st

( Cross-country),

, (AUS) : 25th

(Cross-country),

Sierra Nevada The Sierra Nevada () is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primarily ...

, (ESP) ;2002 : 14th UCI World Championships (Cross-country),

Kaprun Kaprun () is a municipality in the Zell am See District in the state of Salzburg, Austria. The town is a tourist destination known as "Zell am See-Kaprun" with the neighbouring Zell am See and known for the glacier Kitzsteinhorn. Geography It is ...

, (AUT) ;2003 : 9th Overall, UCI World Cup (Cross-country) :: Stage 2,

(GER) ;2004 : 1st MaillotPolonia