Education
That year he finished eleventh at both the 1982 European Athletics Indoor Championships and the 1982 European Athletics Championships.
That year he finished eleventh at both the 1982 European Athletics Indoor Championships and the 1982 European Athletics Championships.
Born in Nowy Kościół, he made his international debut as an under-20 athlete, finishing eighth at the 1977 European Athletics Junior Championships. He lost his title to Janusz Gassowski the following year but rebounded in 1982, taking both the outdoor and indoor shot put titles. He also extended his personal best over the 20-metre mark for the first time, closing the season with a best of 20.64 m set in Warsaw.
His career highlights occurred in 1983.
At the inaugural 1983 World Championships in Athletics he defied the more favoured East Germans, Udo Beyer and Timmermann, by leading the competition with an opening throw of 21.04 m. He remained in good form the following year, setting a season"s best of 20.89 m in Seville, but was excluded from the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics as the competition was boycotted by the Eastern Bloc countries.
His personal best of 21.68 m stood as the Polish national record for the event from 1983 until 2009. Standing in direct contrast to sporting opinion at the time, Sarul believed that outright strength was not the most important factor in shot putting and that correct, natural technique was the key to good performances.
In training, he frequently used lighter shots than the typical 7 kg required for competition.
He suggested that more generalised fitness training would be beneficial for younger throwing athletes, leaving strength training until their twenties, although he advocated perfecting technique from an early age. He demonstrated his superior lifting speed in trials for Doctor Bogdan Poprawski"s paper Strength, Power and Speed in Shot Put Training at the Poznan Sport Institute.