Four Hills Championship. Stoch, Kubacki and Żyła’s crisis reveals leaps

Does this have to happen? Maybe yes, sooner or later. In May 2022, a three-time Olympic champion full stoush He is 35 years old. The Pole is a phenomenon on a global scale, and even greater if we take into account the successes after the thirtieth birthday. The 30-year-old Stoch has won as many as 17 World Cup competitions, Two courses on 4 hills (2018 and 2021), and in Pyeongchang four seasons ago he became the biggest Olympic champion in snowboarding.

Piotr Żyła He will celebrate his thirty-fifth birthday in twelve days or so. He has matured to success on the hill longer. Less than a year ago, he achieved his biggest: he won the gold medal at the World Championships in Oberstdorf. They are also long lasting, although of course time is not on their side.

Daoud Kobaki They’re young: He’ll turn 32 in March. The fate of these three is the story of the boom in snowboarding in Poland in recent years. In the past five seasons, they’ve dominated the Four Hills Championship: Stoch won it three times, Kobaki once, and finished second in 2017. Only 12 months ago, in the 69th edition of the TCS, the Poles ranked first (Stoch), third (Kubacki) and fifth (Żyła). Led by coach Michel International.

I refer to the name of the Czech, because today it is he who is primarily responsible for the crisis. The Poles under his leadership for two years jumped in a big way and suddenly everything collapsed. The crisis is irreversible given the age of the leading cadres? There is no such certainty. Stoch, Kubacki and Żyła gained patience and trust with the masses. Just as Małysz once earned him as an athlete, now he’s the director of PZN. Even after his big successes, he indicated that there was a void behind the appearances of the Great Three. Especially since Macej Kot fell into an inexplicable crisis.

Given his position, Małysz should not only diagnose problems, but also solve them. Training programs exist for young jumpers, but it is not known when there will be effects or if they will appear at all. So far, Stoch, Żyła and Kubacki have received support from the little ones who cried the cat.

After all, we’re going through, or rather, an exceptional period in Polish ski jumping. The team won medals in almost all major events. Fortunately, there was always the fourth player who was testing the top of his level. she was Mass Kot, and then Stephen HoulaAnd Clemence MoracaAnd Jacob WoolneyA year ago Andrzej Stękała. Aside from Cat, no one stayed on the team for long.

The current crisis in Stoch, Kubacki and Żya does not have to be merely the result of the passage of time. Why does shape collapse reach all three at the same time? Perhaps there is a common problem that can be found and eliminated? Of course, what is happening now is irreversible.

Even if the Polish trio were returned to the world leaders, the problem of the successors would remain unresolved. Sooner or later, maybe sooner, you will have to face him again. We can see how important continuity of success is after jumping, and perhaps even more so after skiing. As long as Justina Kowalczyk competed, millions of Poles followed her achievements. Today, no one is enthusiastic about cross-country skiing.

Dariush Wolowski

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