The 2009/2010 season was not good for Adam Małysz. Apart from the third place won in Lillehammer, the first part of it could worry about the fans. However, the form was to come at the climax. It also happened. First in February he won two silver medals of the Vancouver Olympic Games. He only lost to Simon Amman, and after the most important four -year party he was the only one to establish a real fight with him. In the four final World Cup competitions he stood on the podium every time. It is not surprising that the appetites for the culmination of the season – the World Flight Championship – were great.
He staggered a “little, great man.” It was Małysz's drama
The struggles took place at the legendary Lettalnica in Planica. Małysz knew how to win there. Three years earlier he won in three competitions ending the 2006/2007 season. He defeated Anders Jacobsen, sealing the fourth and, as it turned out later, the last crystal ball in his career. This time you had to give four equal, distant jumps.
The competition for the medals of the world championships in flights took place in the format of four series. On Friday, March 19, the first two are scheduled, and on Saturday 20 two final. The moods were good at halfway. Małysz jumped 217.5 and 215 m, losing only to Amman. His loss to the Swiss was only 2.8 points.
– Second places are great, but finally I would like to be higher. Simon knows that I am on his heels. Defeating him is within my reach. I hope that Saturday will be my day, the medal is at your fingertips – Małysz spoke, quoted by Sport.pl.
– The first jump was quite good, the second was almost the way I always mean. It seems that I will play a duel with Adam for gold. I don't think anyone can threaten us – He added a four -time Olympic champion.
“On the threshold he is to explode with all power. Adam, we are waiting, we are waiting for a great feat! I look … The wind is good, but below one meter, difficult conditions, so you have to bounce high, like a bird! And then turn into a small great man, unbuttoned between the hope of victory and our dreams! Fly without end, without the right of gravity!” – This is how the last flight of Małysz on Polish Television was commented by Włodzimierz Szaranowicz.
It was supposed to be a flight to the medal. He was a flight to a great disappointment and wasting the last chance to get the missing scalp in a rich career. Amman, Schlierenzauer silver, won gold indisputably, and bronze fell to Jacobsen, for whom it was a personal Vendetta for 2007. Małysz remained to swallow the bitter pill.
Although he had triumphed over the years and won medals at many hills of the world, the medal from the World Cup was missing in his achievements. In Planica he did not change this state of affairs, although it is honestly admitted -it was not his fault to the end. In the last jump he fought not so much about a good distance, but about maintaining a stable position. Wind gusts meant that it was difficult for him to give a long stroke.
– Sacramentally it all broke. I didn't expect it myself. It started to blow and there were problems. In the second jump, it seemed to me that I came out well from the threshold, later I had no air in the first phase and suddenly a blast hit my left skis. It turned her terribly, she went my head, I lost my speed and fell. I am disappointed, the chance for a medal was huge. So great that he may never happen again – Małysz spoke in an interview for Sport.pl, hot commenting on what happened on Lettalnica.
There was also a lot of controversy in connection with the converters for the wind. Not only the distance was to affect the player's note, but also the conditions in which he jumped. Skoczków, including Małysz, were only criticized loudly with the crawling and not quite precise system.
– With this refereeing and assessment system, when everything depends on the beam and wind, you can lose IO 0.1 points. The system is uneven, requires improvement. If there are equal conditions, he is fairly fair when it blows – no. Well, if I jumped like yesterday, I would fight Simon for gold. I wasn't nervous, I wanted to jump normally, but I made some mistake in the air. When I landed, I knew it would be hard for me. I think I dream of these 211 meters. I am very pissed off – He admitted in an interview with our portal after the competition in Planica.
This was not the first time he loudly articulated his dissatisfaction with innovative methods of counting indicators and translating them into points.
– You, journalists, probably don't always know what this is about. It is abnormal that people do not know what the assessment is and what the result results – He spoke in an interview with “Super Express”.
The bitterness of the defeat was unbelievable, because on Sunday Poles were not much lacking in the team medal. At that time, there was also controversy. “The judges broke everything! It's manipulation! I'm very nervous. They let Łukasz go in adverse conditions, with strong winds in the back” – Kamil Stoch spoke, complaining that the judges told Łukasz Rutkowski to jump in adverse conditions, while in an analogous situation they allowed the final of the final of Olli Motka.
“On Saturday, Malysz did the things unusual for him. No, he did not defeat Ammann, but lost a certain medal. It was a painful experience. Malysz came to the Lettalnica to fight for gold, enlarge the collection of discs from various competitions and the world hills. He had to watch – the advantage over the Austrian Schlierenzauer was almost 15 points. So straight from Planica for Sport.pl, the championship was reported by Robert Błoński.
Already after the struggle Błoński had the opportunity to talk to Małysz. – Maybe I should give up jumping with jumping? Maybe I crossed my barrier? Such thoughts were on my mind after a defeat in the world championships in flight. I feel terrible with this fourth place. The next world championships in flight are in two years, I don't know if I will start in them. I only think about the next season – he said.
King left, let the king live
There was no next world championships in flights with the participation of Małysz, and “the next season” turned out to be the last one. There was an unbelievable Slovenian symbolism. March 20, 2011 – equally 12 months after losing the medal medal – the best Polish jumper was again … in Planica. This time to let your career let it out. This time there were no four series, but only one. The finale of the 2010/11 World Cup season was ruled by the wind.
Everything was focused around the Pole that day. This is best demonstrated by the report, which Robert Błoński was carried out straight from Planica for Sport.pl.
“Simon Ammann especially for Sunday competition – like Malysz. Norwegian Tom Hilde drew them with a marker. Everything in honor of Adam coming off the pedestal. Most jumpers, as part of recognition, had an autograph on the start numbers of the Polish virtuoso virtuoso of this discipline on the starting numbers,” he wrote.
Maciej Maciusiak and Robert Mateja, who was dressed in highlander, hung with a white and red flag in a highlander – assistants of Slovenia absent in Slovenia, struggling with problems with the heart of the architect of the successes of Małysz Finn Hannu Lepistoe. He jumped 216 meters from a reduced run. The master did what he failed to do a year ago. He took third place. Just behind Robert Kranjc's back and above all the winner of the competition – Kamil Stoch, whose career began to gain momentum last season. The jumper from the tooth, after the competition, danced for the Grand Master. Seven years later, he did something that Małysz failed. At the World Championships in flights in 2018 he won silver. In Oberstdorf he gave way only Daniel-Andre Tande.
Małysz finished his career with 92 podi in the World Cup. He left the stage, only 33 years old. “Hats with heads […]. Notes, as befits a great eagle of world jumps, for a great form. We love you Adam, we loved you for so many years ” – said Włodzimierz Szaranowicz on Polish Television.
“Few of his great predecessors left in equally great glory” – commented on the journalist Sport.pl Michał Kiedrowski.
There was a saying that Małysz was not one of the most outstanding pilots. Rightly? You can have serious doubts about this. In 2003 he equalized the unofficial world record in the length of the flight. He jumped 225 meters, the same as Andreas Goldberger. Until 2010, he remained a jumper with the most wins at mammoths. He won competitions for the largest objects of the world six times. It wasn't until the aforementioned year that his achievement was pierced by Schlierenzauer – the current record holder with 14 wins. Unfortunately, that from the 2002/03 season to the 2007/08 season, the crystal ball was not awarded for flights.