The worst weekend of Poles in the season. Thurnbichler can make a surprising change

348 – that’s how many points Polish jumpers have scored and will take away from Sapporo. In individual competitions, they have not won so much anywhere this season, but their trips to Japan are unlikely to be considered successful. This is actually the worst weekend of the season in terms of their results.

Kubacki caught up, the Austrians run away even on a bad day. Statistics do not defend Poles

Until now, the one from the end of November in Ruka, Finland, was regarded as such. Then, in two competitions, Poles scored 236 points, an average of 118 points per competition. This time it was worse – in three competitions in Okurayama the average is 116 points. – Piotr Żyła was eighth, Dawid Kubacki eleventh, Aleksander Zniszczol seventeenth, Kamil Stoch 23rd and Paweł Wąsek 26th.

Kubacki has lost almost half of his lead in the overall World Cup classification and if Halvor Egner Granerud keeps chasing the Pole at this pace, he may take away the yellow leader’s plastron during the flights in Kulm next week. In addition, in the Nations Cup, although the leaders from Austria also had the weakest day of the season, the Poles did not manage to outplay them and use the chance to make up for the losses.

Kubacki talks about tired legs. This doesn’t look like a real downgrade

It’s not all pleasant. It hurts that after several days of Kubacki’s great run, who did not fall out of the top five for eleven competitions, and in ten of them he was on the podium, but also after good results of the entire team, a small hole came. But it’s important to think about its cause. Did the lottery conditions on the hill, tiredness from going to Asia, or maybe a real decline in form have an impact on the disposition of the Poles?

It’s more about the first two factors. After all, the jumps of the Poles technically looked at least correct, solid, and not as if they changed dramatically from weekend to weekend. Maybe they lacked details, and these are really important this season, but they should not cause them to fall apart from the top. In Sapporo, the differences were clear, but it’s hard to say that Thurnbichler’s players lost contact with the top.

– I would not break down, because we know that in Japan it can be much worse. I wasn’t very lucky with the conditions. It’s just here. I missed a lot of jumps. I will not blame the hour of the competition, but I felt that the legs did not work properly. Maybe they already felt tired of this trip, but I think that from a technical point of view it defends itself – . He didn’t seem very concerned. The trainers on the tower showed disappointment, looking away and quickly going down, when the final result turned out to be weaker than expected, but with the jumps of previous Poles you could even see smiles and joy.

A surprising change in the composition of the Poles? Narrow could use some peace

At Dawid Kubacki, not everything functioned perfectly – we established that. Piotr yle lacked the right energy for a long time, but the jumps themselves did not look bad either. There were some small mistakes – even taking the skis hard at the doorstep, but they didn’t really affect his results. He often landed beyond the 130 meter limit, so it would be difficult to expect much more. Kamil Stoch himself claims that he has not refined all the details to the limit, but he describes his attempts as good. Thus, the three best Polish jumpers so far on Okurayama did not have any dramatic changes that would cause worse results. But there was no flash either.

This one appeared in the other two jumpers of the Polish team. Aleksander Zniszczol skilfully took advantage of the good conditions and landed far – on Saturday he was even on the podium after the first round of the competition, although then he fell heavily in the classification. However, he proved that it is worth betting on him. On the other hand, Paweł Wąsek, who has had a slightly weaker moment for several competitions and his form is a bit lame, had his moment on Sunday, when he was satisfied especially with the jump in the first round.

It seems, however, that the Pole is tired and it is possible that it would be better to give him some peace, instead of forcing him to go on ski flights to Kulm. This makes a rather surprising change in the line-up possible: who knows if Jakub Wolny will fly to Austria, who, although he has not been in good shape in the Continental Cup recently, loves mammoths and could wake up on them for good. In terms of sports, Tomasz Pilch deserved this trip, who was fourth in the second CK competition in Eisenerz, but for him it would be a debut on mammoth objects.

An important test for Poles. Rivals are chasing and will shine

After jumping in Sapporo, despite the unpleasant statistics, one should not sound the alarm. The assessment of the jumps of the Poles from Okurayama must be divided by difficult conditions, to which they had little luck in almost every series. And the eighth place as the worst result of the best Pole in the whole season, a year ago we would have taken not so much blindly as with a kiss of the hand.

However, the situation has also become quite interesting. An interesting test awaits the Poles: how will the staff and jumpers react to such a slightly worse result? No one wants the results to be even worse, and a boost in the form of further successes would be a very positive impulse.

Although it must be admitted that the rivals of the Poles can look at the next weeks with a much lighter heart and head. They challenge them, they started the race in key classifications. The results, especially in the case of Norwegians and Slovenians, remain at a high level or are the best in recent times. The Austrians look only slightly worse, and to all this you have to add the Japanese in the form of returning to great shape Ryoyu Kobayashi. The first flights are ahead of us, each of the above-mentioned staff can shine. But Poles should not worry too much and do their own thing. That’s the most important thing right now.