World Indoor Championships Kujawy Pomorze 26: Cultural Events

The World Athletics Indoor Championships Kujawy Pomorze 26 will be accompanied by exhibitions, meetings, theatre performances, and artistic shows featuring Ray Wilson, Dawid Kwiatkowski, Gromee, and rapper Fukaj. On Saturday (14 March), the Horzyca Theatre will host the premiere of a play thematically linked to the upcoming event – about the highlights and challenges of a sports career.

“Besides sporting excitement, I hope you will also find time to discover Toruń, Bydgoszcz, and the entire Kujawy and Pomorze Region – a land of Gothic architecture, Vistula River panoramas, health resorts, lakes, and forests. It is a place where history and tradition meet modernity and the energy of contemporary life,” said Marshal Piotr Całbecki.

“Queen of Sport” on stage

The Horzyca Theatre invites audiences to the play Queen of Sport, directed by Jędrzej Wielecki. The stage will feature figures such as runner Irena Szewińska – a seven-time Olympic medalist, Władysław Komar – one of Poland’s best shot putters, and Janusz Kusociński, the Olympic champion in the 10,000-metre race in 1932.

“We try to tell the story of these outstanding figures as if they were a family. They were people very close to one another. They were friends, they helped each other, but they also competed against each other – and that combination is truly fascinating,” says actor Paweł Pabisiak in the Ucho Horzycy podcast.

“Practicing sport is connected with failure. Achieving that wonderful goal – a great result – means overcoming your own weaknesses. In the play we therefore talk about victories through the lens of everyday training. We show that before you achieve success, you have to work incredibly hard,” emphasizes director Jędrzej Wielecki in the podcast.

The premiere will take place on Saturday (14 March) on the Backstage Stage. Further performances will be held from Sunday (15 March) to Thursday (19 March), and after a short break also in April.

Opening concert of the championships

The special concert “Sprinting to the Stars” will accompany the opening ceremony of the World Athletics Indoor Championships. On Friday (20 March) at 4:00 PM, Ray Wilson, Dawid Kwiatkowski, and Gromee will perform on the stage in the Old Town Market Square. The audience will also have a unique opportunity to meet well-known Polish track and field athletes. On stage there will be talks with: Anna Rogowska, the 2009 world champion in pole vault, Jacek Wszoła, the 1976 Olympic champion in high jump, Paweł Wojciechowski, the 2011 world champion in pole vault and Polish record holders in the 100 m and 200 m races, Marian Woronin and Marcin Urbaś. The concert will be hosted by Agata Konarska, and admission will be free.

A unique exhibition

The opening of the championships (20 March) will also feature the photo exhibition “The Kujawy and Pomorze Relay. 50 Days of a Shared Journey.” On display boards set along Queen Jadwiga Street (from the Empik store to the fan zone), visitors will be able to see photographs from relay events that began in the region on 30 January – fifty days before the championships.

The relay baton, symbolically passed between 50 municipalities, traveled 6,100 kilometres. The photographs from this extraordinary journey – joined by 5,000 young athletes, students, seniors, people with disabilities, coaches, and sports enthusiasts – will be available to view from the opening day of the championships (20 March).

Champions in the museum

On Saturday (21 March), Marshal Piotr Całbecki will receive the Athletics Heritage Award for his contribution to the development of the discipline. The ceremony will begin at 3:00 PM at the Museum of World Athletics (MOWA) located in Galeria Toruń Plaza.

On that day the exhibition will be expanded with additional items donated by: Piotr Całbecki, Sebastian Chmara (decathlete, sports commentator, and president of the Polish Athletics Association), runner Adam Kszczot and pole vaulter Paweł Wojciechowski.

The event will also feature Dutch sprinter Nelli Cooman and runners Daniel Komen (Kenya) and Noureddine Morceli (Algeria).

The exhibition will be open to the public until Sunday (22 March). Among the exhibits are the walking shoes of four-time Olympic champion Robert Korzeniowski and sprint spikes belonging to one of the greatest figures in world sprinting history, Irena Szewińska.

Not only sporting excitement

On Saturday (21 March) at the New Town Market Square, the audience will see spectacular performances by Ocelot Theatre (at 1:00 PM), combining acrobatics, ballet, music, and pantomime. The stage will also host meetings with athletes and legends of athletics, fan competitions, and ceremonies opening and closing the fan zone.

A major musical highlight will be Saturday’s concert by Fukaj (at 4:30 PM), one of the most interesting representatives of the young generation of Polish rap. Over the three days, world-class DJs will also keep the atmosphere lively.

In the former Evangelical church of the Holy Trinity, visitors will be able to see the exhibition “History of Polish Athletics.”

Concerts

On Monday (9 March) at the Pomeranian Philharmonic and on Tuesday (10 March) at the Jordanki Cultural and Congress Centre in Toruń, concerts titled “We Are The Champions” took place, featuring well-known songs associated with the greatest sporting events.

Songs by Queen, Tina Turner, Elton John, and Lady Pank were performed in special concert arrangements by Natalia Kukulska, Sławek Uniatowski, Ewelina Flinta, Kasia Moś, and Paweł Wolsztyński. The concerts were hosted by sports journalist and TV presenter Paulina Chylewska.

Beata Krzemińska
Spokesperson of the Marshal’s Office

11 March 2026
Last updated: 13 March 2026