November 22. Polish jumpers are taking part in the first official series of the new World Cup season. Jakub Wolny is not among them. He didn't make it to the squad that went to Lillehammer and must wait for his chance. This one comes quite quickly – just a week later they replace Maciej Kot in the lineup with Ruka. However, he does not score a single point there and leaves Finland as one of the biggest losers of that weekend.
December 15. Jakub Wolny takes eighth place and improves the best result of a Polish ski jumper this winter. He jumped at a solid, good level all weekend, especially on Friday. On Sunday, however, he reached his highest level in a long time.
A fantastic result for Wolve in Titisee-Neustadt. Special techniques helped him before the second jump
That is, since the memorable 2018/2019 season, when Wolny was very close to the podium twice, and the competition in Vikersund even finished right behind him, in fourth place. Then he was in the best “10” only twice in 2021 – in Titisee-Neustadt, in ninth place, and in Planica, in tenth. A year later, he was still 11th at the Ski Flying World Championships in Vikersund, but his performance was not great. Now there is no other way to call the jumps he performed in the second individual competition in Titisee-Neustadt.
Already on Friday, Wolny was jumping at an excellent level in training. On Saturday, although he performed slightly worse, he announced that he would soon want to climb even higher. We wanted to see it, but it was a little hard to believe that it would pass a certain level so quickly. That from 22nd place on Saturday and a maximum of second ten, he will soon jump to the best. Shocking.
The Pole was eighth after the first series, when he reached 138.5 meters. – In the second jump I tried not to get too excited about anything mentally. I approached him normally. This resulted in a nice result. I am very pleased – Jakub Wolny describes his feelings in an interview with Sport.pl. In the second round he added as much as 140.5 meters and could have enjoyed it even more than during the attempt in the opening series of the competition. He proved that he left nothing to chance on Sunday.
– I had a good day. I felt very good from the very morning and I knew I could do good jumps here. I'm glad I managed to show them in the competition, says Wolny. He was confident that he would be able to maintain a good position and tried not to stress. – I had been in this situation before and now I knew I could handle it. I didn't replay anything, I didn't remember anything. But I knew I could do it well without necessarily thinking about what might happen. Do I have my own techniques? Respiratory, yes, they help a lot – reveals the jumper.
Thurnbichler was happy to see what the Free One had done. Indicates one element. “It can make a huge difference.”
Looking at the pace at which Wolny is creeping towards the top of the World Cup, it must be said that he has achieved the impossible. – It's a great story: seeing him getting back into shape after so many years of problems and constantly struggling with something – the coach points out to Sport.pl Thomas Thurnbichler. – You can see with the naked eye that he is developing and how much he has gained recently. He, Paweł Wąsek and Aleksander Zniszczoł are focused on working in a continuous process that we all supervise together. I'm very happy that he's doing well, adds the coach.
The extraordinary pace of Wolny's return to form and his enormous progress in subsequent competitions is astonishing. Where does the Polish coach see the element that allowed Wolny to reach such a high level? – IN sports a small amount of self-confidence means so much. It can make a huge difference. You are calm and jump loosely, which allows you to generate more energy in your jumps. You also have much more confidence in everything you do. That's what I saw with Kuba. I am convinced that he will take this self-confidence with him to the next competitions, says Thurnbichler.
And how the Austrian worked with Wolny to improve even more between the competitions – today and yesterday, where he finished in 22nd place. – Together with the competitors, we create a clear vision of how they should work and what their jumps should look like. After that, it's all about balance. We have to think about how much we can add from one jump to another. I think Kuba has it very clear. There is nothing to add, nothing to change. And the last percentage to reach a higher level with jumps is always trust and self-confidence. It now worked as it should for him, assures Thomas Thurnbichler.
Even the judges were impressed by Wolny's jumps. “We are working on telemarks”
Even the judges appreciated Wolny's development and class on Sunday. Even though in the morning we described how the Pole was punished with a points deduction, it is not known why, which happened again during Sunday's qualifications, he already received high marks in both competition series.
The judges awarded him 55.5 points in each jump. There were even better ratings at the top, but this was a really solid result. – We are working on telemarks. Distance is key here, however, and affects how well the athlete can land each jump. The name is always an important factor, the judges pay attention to it. It will be like this until people write notes, says Thomas Thurnbichler.
The next World Cup competition is scheduled for Engelberg. – This will be another chance to confirm this good jumping, to confirm it and get another good result – says Jakub Wolny, who definitely does not have to worry about a place in the squad for these competitions. Two individual competitions are planned in Switzerland on December 20-22. Live coverage on Sport.pl, a broadcasts on Eurosport, TVN and on the Max platform.