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Marcin Lewandowski ended his successful professional sports career two years ago. The four-time Olympian and multiple medalist in international track and field events is still very active: he runs a company, manages athletes, works on the organization of the Diamond League in Poland, among other things, but will also report on the Olympic Games in Paris on Eurosport as an expert. He also still practices martial arts, but has also announced possible starts in running next year. What’s the news about our former excellent middle-distance runner?
Jakub Jelonek: How is Marcin Lewandowski finding his bearings after ending his athletics career? What are you doing now?
Marcin Lewandowski: For me, the phrase: “My whole life on the run” is both literally and figuratively. I run all the time, for myself, of course, for “fun” and all, and apart from that I “run” all the time from meeting to meeting. It is more related to business topics and managing my “afterlife”. So a lot and a lot of intensity is going on for me, but surprisingly: it is my conscious choice, because that is what I want. First of all, I am now focusing very strongly on activities related to my own company. I have launched my dietary supplements Omni Running, which are dedicated to runners. We are working very hard with them and will soon be expanding our product line. Recently, a few new supplements have been released, but that is not the end. So I do not hide the fact that I am focusing a lot on this. Apart from that, I am also actively involved in Marcin Rosengarten’s agency – “Athleteam”. Apart from the fact that it is related to trips to meetings etc., we organize the Diamond League here “at home” at the Silesian Stadium. This year it will take place on August 25th and I am very much involved in various activities related to it. Apart from that, I also have various one-off activities, such as now running away to the Olympic Games in Paris as an expert with Eurosport. Additionally, one cannot forget that I am still a soldier of the Polish Army. I serve in the Central Military Sports Team group, so I also work hard for them and maybe next year I will start in another running competition. It turns out that the European Military Cross-Country Championships are coming back and it is not certain that I will not compete there.
When we last spoke, your cage fight was in the balance. Have you managed to sign an opponent and set up a specific fight?
No. As I mentioned, I always wanted such a fight, I liked and still like to train martial arts. Even as an active athlete who won medals at the world championships on the track, I was still interested in martial arts. If I could, I would go, watch live, support, including Michał Materla and many other guys I know from the mat. I could never afford it, because you know – let’s not kid ourselves – it is a risky sport when it comes to injuries. That’s why I could never do it. When I ended my competitive career, I started to “have fun” with it more. There were such opportunities to fight, but if I were to do it, it would only be on my own terms. That was the basis of my decisions. It was supposed to be a sporting fight and that was my main focus. If it was to go in a different direction, I didn’t want that. That’s why it’s hard to say anything more about the planned fight at the moment, but of course it’s not the end. I’m still working hard, training. I really like it and even if there were no fight, it wouldn’t matter to me, because I simply love it. I like one: to get tired, two: to learn something different, and three: to spend time with the people I met there, because they are great people who train on the mat. Regardless of whether there will be a fight or not, I still go there and train, for myself. If it turns out in the meantime that I can do something cool and sporty – I emphasize – then I would definitely like to try my hand at the octagon again.
Where did the idea to create supplements for runners come from?
Much has changed in recent years and runners, whether professional or amateur, competing in stadiums or, for example, in street races, have much greater possibilities of supplementation than a few years ago. I envy them because now athletes receive a ready-made product from me, which is really very valuable. Its composition is adjusted so that the effects and action are mutually reinforced. I say this because sometimes I was accused of the fact that supplements of the name “X” are the same in price, but have, for example, three times more “stuffed” with other ingredients. This is the worst thing that can happen, because more does not mean better in such a case. Often these substances, ingredients “cannibalize”, and in my case the composition is selected so that it enhances its effect. That is why I envy today’s runners, because they have a ready-made product of really the highest quality and they have something that I have been missing all my life, throughout my career. I had to look for it, I often ordered supplements from abroad, because it was not available here. I had to mix and match and take a little of this, a little of that. Sometimes from one company, sometimes from another. I simply had to combine it all so that it would give me the same great effect as the finished products, created by a runner for runners. That’s where the idea for these supplements came from.
What are the stages of creating such supplements? What is the path from idea to introducing them to the market?
As for the process itself, how it went, it was a long road. It took me a lot of time from the idea to the creation of the finished product. First of all, I do not advertise someone’s brand, of which I am only the face, but this is my own product, for which I am responsible, with which I identify and I would certainly not allow myself to make some “shit” there. That is why this process was very long. It started with an idea, then we moved on to consultations. A lot of people took part in them – not only me, but also many other athletes, especially with these first products. With the first ones, my brother, Tomasz Lewandowski, who needs no introduction to track and field enthusiasts, helped me. The guy has such a huge knowledge! Not only about training, but also about supplementation or even high-altitude training. We consulted a lot with Tomek and he really is the “brains” of this undertaking. He gave us a lot of valuable tips. Then we went and consulted with other coaches, biochemists, physiologists, so a lot of people really took part in it. But most of all, I consulted with professional runners and amateurs, because it was created for them, among others. It often turned out that street runners have different needs than track runners. All of this was combined into one whole to adapt to all runners. It should also be noted here that our products are dedicated to runners, but they can be used in any endurance and strength sport. These are the same supplements and they will also work great there, but we were strictly aimed at runners, because the physiological processes that take place in the body, especially during long-term effort, are completely different than, for example, in other athletics competitions and sports disciplines. That was the idea, that’s how we did it and we are constantly trying to give what runners need. That’s what I lacked throughout my professional sports career.
Are you planning to introduce new products to your offer?
That we will continue to develop in the future is certain. The market is also changing, the recipients are changing, there is new technology and a completely different awareness. We will also definitely want to constantly meet this challenge and constantly move forward. But above all, this last line that has entered the market is not the end yet, because production is still ongoing. There are still a few new products in the plans and in the near future. In fact, this month, in July – these next products will be released. In the near future we will end this stage with such an accent, the premiere of several products, and then of course we will continue to develop. We observe what the market needs, what runners need and we will definitely continue to draw conclusions from what is happening.
Which products are already available and which are planned for the near future?
We started 2-3 years ago with my two flagship products, Daily Runner and Pre Runner. Daily Runner – as the name suggests – is our flagship product and is for daily consumption. It does not have such an immediate “wow” effect, but when we take it for a longer period of time, its composition is selected so that it allows us to regenerate better and sleep more efficiently. Because if there is better sleep, there is better regeneration, and if there is better regeneration, there is a better well-being and we simply feel much better. Pre Runner, on the other hand, is a typical “pre-workout” with a very large dose of caffeine and beta-alanine. In short: “run faster and more intensely with less fatigue” – this is our slogan for this product. So our first two products were Daily Runner and Pre Runner, and at the moment another five have already been released, and these are: isotonic drink in two flavors, BCAA, Collagen Repair, Digest & Detox and Omni Burner, which supports fat burning. Another flavour is soon to be added: isotonic, vegetable protein and Regener. So it will be a line of ten products, which is an absolute “must-have” when it comes to running. These are supplements that should be consumed before training, during training, after it, every day. This is how the entire set is thought out. By buying it, we will be protected from every side. Each subsequent product that will be added to the offer will be related to market demand, a new coaching idea or one that will affect better well-being. We will react to this on an ongoing basis and see how it develops.
Finally, how do you assess the state of our track and field team for the Olympic Games in Paris? Nine medals will be hard to repeat, but a few people could cause surprises. How many medals will we bring back from France?
I spoke with Adam Kszczot some time ago, when we met at the Irena Szewińska Memorial in Bydgoszcz, and there I was already predicting my medalists for the games. I still maintain my position, which I announced publicly then. I think we will win three medals in track and field. It will be Wojciech Nowicki, Natalia Kaczmarek and despite everything I’m betting on the dark horse, namely Pawel Fajdek. The last few weeks have shown that Paweł is getting more and more going, he has won the last 3 or 4 competitions, so he is no longer even a “dark horse of the competition”, but is slowly becoming a potential candidate to win an Olympic medal. That’s how I see it, but I hope that I will turn out to be a bad prophet and there will be definitely more of these medals, because we are also counting on such surprises as Dobek’s Party Whether David Tomala in Tokyo. These were beautiful moments for the Queen of Sports and let’s hope we’ll see more of them in Paris, and as we know, the more unexpected the medal, the sweeter it tastes. So I’m counting on a few such “tidbits”, because that’s the beauty of this sport.
Thank you for the conversation!
Products from the series Omni Running can be purchased on the website omnirunning.co
