Kamil Stoch started the season badly, and suddenly he broke through brilliantly in Titisee-Neustadt. In the first four competitions of the winter he was 37th, 10th, 20th and 18th, and at the Hochfirstschanze he took second and first place. That's how it was 11 years ago. A repetition now would be like fulfilling a dream that no one seems to even say out loud.
Today Stoch starts in Titisee after six consecutive unsuccessful competitions. Since the beginning of the season he was: 35th and 28th in Lilllehammer, 27th and 14th in Ruka and 33rd and 25th in Wisła. A week ago on the ski jumping hill. Adama Małysz performed so poorly that he was only number five in our team. In fact, he barely won the competition with Piotr Żyła, who was returning after knee surgery, for a place in the five-person Polish squad for the competition in Titisee. Stoch was in danger of being sent to the Continental Cup.
During Friday's training in Titisee-Neustadt, it absolutely did not look like Stoch was getting close to the leaders. He was 24th in the first series, and 27th in the second series. And then he had time off when Paweł Wąsek and Aleksander Zniszczoł took part in the duet competition (they took sixth place).
Before Saturday and Sunday's individual competitions, Stoch's biggest fans can only believe that the champion will somehow miraculously find his place in Titisee, which he likes.
Stoch did not give the great champions a chance
In December 2013, Stoch started his journey to get his first Crystal Ball there. He shined especially on Sunday. The day before he was second, but the next day he was unrivaled. After a jump of 142.5 meters, he was leading after the first series. In the final round he sealed his victory, reaching 138.5 meters in great style. Simon Ammann, who was leading at that time, watched with a dull face as the Pole confidently defended his advantage and danced with joy – in the end, Stoch defeated the four-time Olympic champion by a difference of 7.8 points. And he was 8.7 points ahead of another legend, because Noriaki Kasai took third place in that competition.
– I feel really, really good. After the second jump, I believed that it would give me victory, but you can never be sure. It was a really great jump, it gave me a lot of joy and that was the most important thing for me – said Stoch in an interview with skijumping.pl, somewhat explaining his dance of joy while waiting for the final score. – In mine jumping there was a flash – he added.
That victory was only the eighth of 39 that Stoch won in the World Cup. This was the beginning of the great form of the 2013 world champion Predazzo in that Olympic season. Stoch then won both Olympic competitions at the Sochi 2014 Games, and at the end of the season he won the general classification of the World Cup. It was his first of two Crystal Balls in his career.
Interestingly, Stoch also celebrated his last, 39th, victory in Titisee-Neustadt. It was in January 2021, almost four years ago. It's almost an era in ski jumping.
Competition program:
Saturday, December 14:
Qualifications – time 14.30
Individual competition – hours 16.00
Sunday, December 15:
Qualifications – time 14.30
Individual competition – hours 16.00
Live coverage on Sport.pl, broadcasts: TVN, Eurosport and the MAX platform. Apart from Stoch, Poland is also represented by Paweł Wąsek, Aleksander Zniszczoł, Dawid Kubacki and Jakub Wolny.