Although it would be nice if he rubbed the Austrians' noses in the face Paweł Wąsek. However, the Pole has not yet been on the World Cup podium and he admits that thinking about it puts a lot of pressure on him. But in Zakopane everyone, including him and Thomas Thurnbichler, nods when we ask whether it is possible to get into the Top 3. It's probably a bit too early for victory. The first entry into the top three would be a great success.
And on Saturday, the Austrians were unrivaled in team competition. Their victory differed from the one won by the Germans in 2017 precisely in its size. And it seems natural that one of them will triumph individually on Sunday. Back then, the thoughts that someone would prevent the Germans were not as distant as they are now. And those who thought that the German holiday would not extend to two days were right.
Stoch was sixth, but he believed he could beat the Germans. The day before he had become enraged himself
In the team competition, the Germans beat the Poles by 5.1 points. The team of the then coach of the Polish team, Stefan Horngacher, lost mainly because of the slightly weaker first jump of Kamil Stoch – sixth in his group. It was then that they lost 12.6 points to the Germans and Richard Freitag, which they were later unable to fully make up for.
This must have hurt and enraged Stoch. Already the second jump showed that he could be dangerous on Sunday – he set off a firecracker of 136.5 meters, which turned out to be the best jump of the final round, and the second in the entire competition – only Peter Prevc from Slovenia had a better result for 137.5 meters in the first jump .
The next day, Stoch started from third place in series trial. He flew far, at 129.5 meters, but Richard Freitag and Michael Hayboeck were better than him. Things got worse in the competition. In the first series there was wind from the back of the hill and the differences between the competitors were small. They landed “in one hole” in the landing zone. Stoch's 130.5 meters, although not a bad jump, gave him “only” sixth place.
The Pole had five rivals to defeat, but as he said after the competition, he believed that he would succeed. – I believed it, but I didn't think about it at all – said the jumper. – It's like having faith deep in your mind in what you're doing. But one doesn't think that it has to be done now. However, I knew that my jumps were at a good level and all I had to do was show what I do best now. I only focused on making a good jump in the second set. I wanted to do it for myself, but also for everyone else fanswho came here today – added Stoch.
Freitag couldn't stand it, and Wielka Krokiew experienced an outburst of joy for the second time. Stoch took away a great holiday for the Germans
And after his feat in the second series, the crowd erupted with great joy. Although few probably expected back then that the Pole's 131 meters would be a jump that would allow him to go beyond the podium. And this was the best jump of the final round. All because of difficult conditions – he was given 9.8 points for 0.75 meters per second of unfavorable tailwind.
In fact, right after the jump, Stoch only knew that he would be the best Pole. Although right after landing he clearly clenched his fist, and while leaving the Wielka Krokiew catwalk, he moved towards the camera and made cheerful and slightly crazy faces at it. Then, when Michael Hayboeck, Daniel Andre Tande and Markus Eisenbichler fell behind him, he could be sure of a place on the podium. But the Pole did not leave the place for the competition leader, even after Andreas Wellinger's jump. Only Richard Freitag, Stoch's great rival at that time, was left at the top.
And the German probably couldn't stand the pressure. He jumped as much as Stoch – 131 meters, but in much more favorable conditions. Due to the fact that the Pole was only 3.6 points, or two meters, behind him after the first series, Freitag had to fly further to fight Stoch. He lost not only to him, but also to Wellinger, closing the podium.
Stoch first received congratulations from his teammates, and then made a unique gesture – he went out through the gate onto the hill again and was the first to approach Freitag. The German ski jumper gave him a warm hug. And he was smiling because after his jump he had to count on not falling off the podium. He managed to stay on it. And he was part of the German train after Stoch. The Pole clearly spoiled their holiday that day in Zakopane – if it weren't for him, they would have taken all the seats in the “box”. In the end, Wellinger was second, Freitag third, and Eisenbichler fourth.
The biggest winning attack in Stoch's career. Then he rejoiced at the team's successes and used them to replace his own dissatisfaction
But that day on Wielka Krokiew, only the Polish celebration of Stoch's triumph mattered. The fourth in Zakopane, the 20th in his career and the only one in this type of circumstances. Because the Pole's attack from sixth place to first place in this competition remains his greatest in his career to this day.
Of course, Stoch managed to advance more than five places in the final series, but he never won the competition again, being classified lower after his first jump. Although it must be admitted that in this case it was possible thanks to the small loss to Freitag, and greater losses than the 3.6 points that he made up to win also happened.
For the fans in Zakopane, however, the only thing that mattered was that Stoch won a spectacular victory and perfectly closed a weekend full of emotions. And everything was just a stage on the way to the very successful world championships in Lahti for Polish ski jumpers. A little over a month later in Finland, Stoch's individual results could have been a bit disappointing – he was fourth on the normal hill and seventh on the large hill, but then he and his friends won gold in the team competition. And this made up for every failure.
Even this is future, because Stoch – the leader of the general classification of the World Cup that season from January 14 and the victory in Wisła to March 12 and the competition in Oslo – did not ultimately win the Crystal Ball. This one fell to Austrian Stefan Kraft, who, after an impressive second part of the winter, including the World Championships in Lahti, where he became a double gold medalist in this event, beat the Pole by 141 points. And this even though Stoch had one more start in World Cup competitions than him. The Polish team enjoyed the first Nations Cup in history. That winter, the team successes achieved in Stefan Horngacher's first season as head coach slightly outweighed the individual ones.
On Sunday, Kamil Stoch will be one of five Polish competitors at the start of the competition in Zakopane. In the team competition, in which Poland took fifth place, Stoch jumped 125.5 and 131 meters. In the unofficial individual results he was 25th, behind Paweł Wąsek in fifth place and 19th. Dawid Kubackibut before 27. Aleksander Zniszczoł. Apart from them, he will also jump in the individual competition at the end of the weekend Jakub Wolny. The first series will start at 4:00 p.m., and will be preceded by a trial series scheduled one hour earlier. Live coverage on Sport.pl, and broadcast on Eurosport, on the Max platform and on Polish Television.