Everyone will agree that the Four Hills Tournament is a moment when ski jumping is about more than just competition during the most prestigious competitions of the World Cup series. Fans, experts and jumpers themselves, together with their staff, often look at the equipment. They analyze whether someone breaks the rules, skillfully exploits loopholes in the rules, and maybe even has something that could surprise their rivals. But what happened at the beginning of the competition two years ago was truly unheard of in this respect. There was a huge storm around Piotr Żyła and his suit.
The Poles flew away, but then Granerud set off the firecracker. Żyła's crazy joy could have cost him a lot
Żyła came to Oberstdorf as the fifth competitor in the general classification of the World Cup and one of the candidates to fight for the top positions in TCS. However, all eyes were on Dawid Kubacki, who was the leader of the series at that time and had collected almost 300 points more than the Wiślan player. He was the main favorite to win the Golden Eagle for winning the Tournament for the second time in his career. To such an extent that the director of the World Cup, Sandro Pertile, when I met him at the ski jumping hill on the day of qualification, asked: “Do you know who will be second? Because I heard that you brought us the winner of the Tournament.”
Meanwhile, from the first rounds on the Schattenbergschanze it was clear that Halvor Egner was in great form Granerud. The Norwegian, who had been able to make really long jumps since the beginning of winter, had lacked stability until then. And here he started “loading” time after time under the size of the hill, further than his rivals. In qualifying, he beat Kubacki by almost nine points. Żyła was fifth. And nothing suggested that the next day he would be the one who would get closer to Granerud.
In the first series, in very unfavorable conditions, he jumped 132.5 meters. Kubacki flew as much as eight meters further in a favorable wind, but he staggered when landing and lost a lot of points. Meanwhile, Granerud's jump showed both Poles that he was a level higher than them at that moment. 142.5 meters from the run-up lowered by the Norwegian coach, Alexander Stoeckl, was a gem.
– Then I could end up not one, but four beams lower than the rest. I had so much speed in the air, it was crazy. The entire competition in Oberstdorf was my best in terms of technique, and I was extremely proud of the first series. After training and qualifying, I knew I was doing well, but also that I had a lot to lose. I have probably experienced all the most difficult jumps possible during the Tournament and the first one during the competition in Oberstdorf was the most nerve-wracking. You can't win the tournament with it, but you can lose it – Granerud described a year later in the “BalcerSki podcast”.
And he didn't lose the Tournament. He is right when he says that you won't win the entire TCS with this one jump, but then he sort of set its course and then he could control what was happening. He won the entire competition by 13.4 points ahead of Piotr Żyła, jumping 139 meters. Knockout. He flew further than both Poles: Żyła landed on the 137th meter, and Dawid Kubacki on the 136th meter. After the competition it was bittersweet. On the one hand: how can you not be happy about a double Polish podium? On the other hand: how to celebrate it when the Golden Eagle and Granerud flew so far away that it was difficult to think about defeating the Norwegian. Right after the jump, while still leaving, Żyła and Kubacki shared joy. The first one was incredibly happy. He kept waving his arms at the camera, shouting and slapping Kubacki hard. And this joy almost cost him the podium.
Żyle was at risk of disqualification. Małysz wrote to him about the unfortunate zipper in the suit
Shortly after the end of the competition, a disturbing screen appeared on social media showing an unzipped zipper in Piotr Żyła's overalls. The Norwegians were the first to show it, then all Polish media reported about it. It was quickly established that the zipper at the top of the hill was fully zipped when Żyła was on the beam. This did not change during the flight, but only after landing. Just when Żyła was enjoying his long jump.
The zipper should be fastened until the jumper leaves the runway through the so-called “exit gate”. Agnieszka Baczkowska, the inspector of the ski jumpers' equipment, told Sport.pl journalist Łukasz Jachimiakthat her players should have their suits on when checking their equipment or when she allows them to unfasten it. And she stated that, according to the regulations, if someone had lodged a protest within 15 minutes after the competition – as required by the rules of the International Ski Federation (FIS) – Żyła would have been disqualified. So there was quite a controversy.
The opinion of Christian Kathol, who checked the jumpers during the World Cup competition, was crucial in all this. However, the Austrian decided to take a very political approach to the matter. – If I received a protest within fifteen minutes after the competition regarding Piotr Żyła's overalls being unbuttoned, I would have to check it – Kathol told Sport.pl. And despite two attempts to ask him for a more specific position, he still repeated the same words. This is why in the text written the next morning, I indicated that Kathol would disqualify Żyła. This was my interpretation of the regulations supported by Baczkowska's opinion. And Kathol was very angry at this narrative because he didn't say it directly. He told me this just before the start of the competition in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, on New Year's Eve. He was convinced that I did not put into his mouth what he did not say, but only interpreted his words. A few months later, I learned from the Polish team that Kathol told them unofficially that he would not exclude Żyła from the competition results.
The most controversial thing about the whole matter were the unclear regulations and the fact that Kathol could not do anything about it without protests from other cadres. When it happened, he was in the equipment inspection room, and various details of the suit were already being checked for individual players. And unless you agree otherwise with the players, Żyła could have already had his zipper undone in the controller's cabin. – I didn't notice it at all – the jumper himself said the day after the competition in Oberstdorf. – He was fastened during the jump, but then I went too crazy and he might not have been able to withstand it all. I had no idea about it at all. It was probably only yesterday that Adam Małysz was the first to write to me that the zipper was undone and that I should take care of it. Maybe the lock was just faulty? I didn't have a problem with this before. I had competitions that I also enjoyed so much. Well, maybe not so much – Żyła laughed.
And although the Pole was in good shape then moodthen after the competition, when he found out about the case, he became very worried and even asked if he was sure results they won't change. And the Polish staff asked journalists to approach the matter delicately and ask the coaches about the controversy and how the controller could have approached the matter. Thurnbichler even showed what situation before the Pole's jump could have led to this unfortunate unfastening of the zipper. This case could be considered closed. But the Norwegian media, which really liked the topic of the Poles' equipment, took a closer look at Żyła's suit. And this was not the end of the storm and controversy surrounding the jumper.
The hardware war continued. Suddenly, the Norwegians started to outline the crotch in Żyła's costume
Norwegian portals they began to mark the step in Polish costume. Indeed, from the beginning of the season the jumper had it very low, even close to his knees when leaving. However, experts even began to accuse Żyła and the Polish staff of fraud. At the same time, they were afraid to say directly that in their opinion this outfit was illegal. Especially since he passed all the checks with Christian Kathol.
– This suit is extreme. Looks it has a larger supporting surface around the crotch than most players. (…) It looks like when he spreads his legs, the suit stretches. When he pulls them back towards himself, the material goes up. Poland has certainly found a good way to sew clothes, said former ski jumper and Viaplay expert Andreas Stjernen. – It's a game – the Polish coach replied to the accusations Thomas Thurnbichler. – I have no reaction to this. Those photos of her in the high phase with her legs spread will always look bad. I don't care, he added. And Kathol talked about the compliance of Żyła's equipment with the regulations. – The suit is absolutely OK and legal when it comes to the material around the crotch. Everyone can see that there is a lot of it, that it does not look good, but it is within the rules – said the FIS equipment controller.
Why didn't Kathol agree with the Norwegians? Because he knew perfectly well how the regulations were constructed at that time. In the summer, the competitors underwent a basic body measurement, to which the jump suit measurements are later compared. Now it is done with a three-dimensional scanner, but back then the measurement method was performed simply by hand and allowed for manipulation. And so the players “shrank” in measurements to gain a few centimeters of material in the crotch of the suit. And that's why the outfits often looked unnatural later. The ball was therefore in FIS's court, they should not have allowed this to happen.
– These policies were established and published in April, and I took over the role in July. I'm not making any excuses: I simply have to work with the rules that were introduced then, because they cannot be completely changed until spring. Then I will change them, supplement them and introduce my own ideas – Kathol explained. And indeed, he later introduced his own methods of measuring players, including the aforementioned 3D scanner. The fact that today the rules still need to be changed and allow jumpers to gain on the equipment by bypassing it is another matter.
Thurnbichler called it too mild. It was no longer a “game”, but at least a small hardware war between Poles and Norwegians. It extended to the entire TCS and from today's perspective, it was probably not entirely necessary on both sides. However, the Norwegians made more false accusations, and the knockout blow for those about Piotr Żyła's suit was the comment of their own coach. – Do you want to know what I think about him? – Alexander Stoeckl asked me in Innsbruck. And he immediately replied: “Good job. Because it's a really well-made suit according to the current rules.” And no more comments were needed on this matter.
Today, Stoeckl no longer works in Norway, but in Poland – he is the director of ski jumping and Nordic combined in the Polish Ski Association. And all Polish ski jumping is in a much worse place than two years ago. Then you could think about podiums and even fighting for victory in the entire Four Hills Tournament. Now the hopes for the 73rd TCS are no more than the top six of the competition, or rather the Top 10, spoiling the blood of your rivals and regularly improving your own results. However, we would rather not go back to the hardware war and problems with Żyła's lock. Although it showed one thing: at that time, everyone looked at the Poles and questioned what they had in their equipment, and were even afraid of it. Now this is no longer the case and it is the Poles who follow their rivals' movements.
The Four Hills Tournament will start with Saturday training. Two series scheduled for 2:00 p.m. will precede qualifying, which is scheduled to start at 4:30 p.m. Sunday's competition will start at the same time, and before it at 3:00 p.m. there will be a trial series. Live coverage on Sport.pl, and broadcasts on Eurosport, TVN and the Max platform.