Men's Fitness

Max Poplawski

The GB triathlete competing in one of the toughest sports around despite a rare and severe form of arthritis

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When you ask a Team GB age group athlete what their life was like a decade ago, you might expect pleasant memories of back-garden races as a kid, or idealising the athletes that they saw dashing across their TV screens. For Max Poplawski – who has recently quali ed to represent Team GB at the 2022 World Triathlon Championsh­ips – it’s a di erent story.

Although he paints the picture of a t, active childhood, that was quickly taken from him after a sudden introducti­on of ankylosing spondyliti­s – a rare type of arthritis that causes in ammation and sti ness along the spine – bringing with it chronic back pain, relentless fatigue and insomnia. At 17, Poplawski tells MF, he couldn’t walk or ascend a staircase, meaning his parents had to help him with everything from basic movement, to lling the gaps of almost an entire year out from school.

He now sits talking about his recent races

– one being the ITU Sprint Quali er on 16 May, another being the Eastbourne Olympic ETU

Quali er on 6 June. In the former, he quali ed second in his age group, and in the latter he quali ed rst in his age group – qualifying him to represent team GB in the 2022 World and European Triathlon Championsh­ips.

PAIN’S REWARD

“at’s a whole new, strange world – I’m very excited about that,” Poplawski says, still grasping the news himself. “It validated, in a sense, all the years of sacri ce and training.”

Triathlon is just about as tough as endurance sport gets. Sprint races involve a 750m swim, 20k ride and a 5k run; while Olympic races consist of a 1.5k swim, 40k ride and a 10k run. It’s a discipline reserved for the

ttest, healthiest athletes around. Poplawski’s success, then, is a mark of just how hard he has pushed.

While ankylosing spondyliti­s predominan­tly a ects the spine, it causes wide-reaching consequenc­es. Poplawski, for example, also has severe pain in his hips and lower back. Roughly one in 200 adults in the UK live with the condition, with its onset most common in the early twenties. One of the main treatments, though – aside from anti-in ammatory drugs – is exercise.

“When I rst got sick, I literally couldn’t walk,” says Poplawski. “en, as I got better, I was back in the pool for a ten-minute swim, then it was a 15-minute swim, then it was a ten-minute walk, then it was a 15-minute walk. I did that for two years, with no aim other than to get myself better.

“As I improved and began to do sports competitiv­ely again, I just wanted to stick a big middle nger up to ankylosing spondyliti­s. I’m going to decide what I’m going to do and I’m going to beat this.

I don’t want to be known as an arthritic athlete. I own it, because that's who I am, but I want my successes to be regardless of whether I have ankylosing spondyliti­s or not. I don’t want to be treated any di erently. I don’t want people to go easy on me. I hate that sentiment, and I know it prevails. I run faster to show that I’ll beat them anyway.”

PUSHING THROUGH

It’s that passion and determinat­ion that have helped Poplawski cross the latest nish line – despite continual discomfort, even mid-race. He explains that in his recent qualifying events, he was su ering a severe ulcerative colitis are-up, meaning each stroke, peddle and step was accompanie­d by crippling stomach pain.

“I just can’t stop. I don’t want to stop,” he says. “For me, sport gives a bit of relief from the pain and frustratio­n, because I can relieve stress, vent and feel productive all at once. It’s a sense of accomplish­ment that makes you feel a little bit better about yourself.”

Now eight years into his diagnosis, we ask Poplawski what he would tell his 17-year-old self, who could only dream of doing competitiv­e sport, let alone representi­ng Team GB.

“All anyone ever wants to be told when they’re diagnosed is that it’s going to be OK,” he says. “But that’s often a bit of a white lie, because things won’t be the same. at’s not to say it

“I don’t want to be known as an arthritic athlete. I want my successes to be regardless of whether I have ankylosing spondyliti­s or not”

won’t be fun, and it doesn’t mean it won’t be great. It doesn’t mean that you won’t have ups and downs, and challenges and successes, and love and hate, and relationsh­ips and partners – you know, all the usual things that come with life. “If I could go back in time, I’d say, ‘You’re going to learn that you can do a lot more than you think you’re capable of doing right now. ere’s going to be a really tough, rough journey, but ultimately, you’re going to enjoy it.”

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