Stanislaw Kowalski

	Poland's Oldest Living Man Titleholders (V • E)
	Walenty Cabon • Jan Michalski • Frument Jaroszynski • Wlodzimierz Rogosz • Jan Szarpala • Wojciech Blicharz • Wlodzimierz Gojlik • Ferdynand Pacak • Wladyslaw Ratman • Boleslaw Kliszewski • Feliks Kowalkowski • Franciszek Karwowski • Pawel Parniak • Jozef Kos • Boleslaw Adamek • Konstanty Jung • Stefan Modrzejewski • Antoni Dobrowolski • Roman Krus • Antoni Wojciechowski • Stanislaw Swidzinski • Jozef Plawski • Jozef Zurek • Stanislaw Kowalski • Kazimierz Klimczak • Stanislaw Pelka • Wladyslaw Fidos

	Stanislaw Kowalski
	; Kowalski at the age of 106
	Unvalidated

Stanislaw Kowalski [Pol. Stanisław Kowalski] (born 14 April 1910) is a Polish supercentenarian whose age is currently unvalidated by the Gerontology Research Group (GRG). He claims to be the oldest living man in Poland.

Biography

Stanislaw Kowalski was born on 14 April 1910 in the village of Rogowek where he lived until the end of the 1930s. After his marriage, he moved to Brzeznica. In 1952, due to the broadening of the boundaries of the military training ground, he had to move out of his newly built house and live in Lower Silesia, in the village of Krzydlina Wielka where he ran a small farm and worked as a railroad lineman. He has been living in Świdnica since 1979. Kowalski comes from a long-lived family his mother lived to be 99. For several dozen years Kowalski rode to work on a bicycle regardless of the weather outside.

Career

On 10 May 2014, aged 104, Kowalski set the European record in 100m race at 32.79 s (in centenarian age category). No European centenarian man completed the run on such distance before him. However, Kowalski did not break the world record of Hidekichi Miyazaki of Japan set on 3 October 2010 with the result of 29.83 s. Nevertheless, Miyazaki was much younger when he set the world record - 100 years, 11 days old.

When he competed at the Polish Veterans Championships on 28 June 2015, in Torun, Poland he became the world's oldest athlete. On that day, Kowalski ran the 100 metres in 34.50, threw the shot put 4.27 m (14 ft 0 in) and the discus 7.50 m (24 ft 7¹⁄₄ in). By competing in those events, he surpassed the accomplishments of John Whittemore, who competed at 104 years 10 months. By virtue of his age being beyond 105 years old, he necessitates the creation of a new age division for World Masters Athletics, the M105 division of which he was the only member to have competed. Thus all of his performances are world records. M100 world record holder Hidekichi Miyazaki turned 105 on September 22, 2015 and two days later joined Kowalski as the second competitor in the division though Kowalski was 77 days older when he competed.

In 2019, he expressed will to compete again, but due to health issues, he resigned from his start.

Longevity

Kowalski credits his longevity to never going to the doctor and doing whatever he wants. He also says not to eat much during the evening. Kowalski became the oldest living man in Poland after the death of 108 year old Józef Żurek on 20 March 2018. Shortly afterwards, on 14 April 2018, he turned 108. On 14 April 2019, he turned 109. In October 2019, he has broken the Polish male longevity record set by Antoni Wojciechowski three years before - in 2016 - thus becoming the male longevity recordholder in Poland.

On 14 April 2020, Kowalski turned 110, becoming the first non-emigrant male supercentenarian in the history of Poland.