Stoch “bounces back to front”. The expert translates and is convinced. “Back in shape”

The decision on Kamil Stoch’s performance in Lake Placid was made by Thomas Thurnbichler – the player himself confirmed it. It was the Austrian trainer who first said that Stoch was not flying to the USA.

Thurnbichler made a difficult but right decision regarding Stoch. The extreme solution didn’t work

It seems to be the only right choice. This is where Stoch, coaches, experts and fans agree. It’s sad to see a three-time Olympic champion in such a shape and him struggling on the hill. Nobody wants him to helplessly catch up to the next World Cup competitions, just like on Sunday at the hill in Willingen, when in the qualification he flopped on the landing on two legs, gaining only 100.5 meters.

Therefore, Thurnbichler will allow him to rest from jumping as much as he needs. Then he will return to calm training – most likely with base coaches, from Zakopane or after the weekend of the World Cup in Lake Placid, when the staff of the national team with Thurnbichler will return to Poland. Although we have no doubt that after a proper analysis, the Austrian sees the problem and has ideas for solving it, and he will prepare them both for himself and for those who would work the pause period in starts with Stoch. One of them tested with his competitor on Sunday – the jumper described it as an “extreme approach to the jump”, because that’s how he was supposed to feel on the inrun and in the air. Unfortunately, it did not work, although Stoch admitted that he did not apply this solution fully correctly.

How did it break? Stoch: “If I hadn’t gone to Kulm”

Many people from the environment of the Polish ski jumping team are surprised by one thing: two weeks later, during training in Zakopane after the competition in Sapporo, Stoch was supposed to not only jump at his own level, but even surpass Dawid Kubacki and Piotr ¯y³a. So he was in probably his best form since the beginning of winter. Where has it all changed?

It all started with a competition in Bad Mitterndorf. On the Kulm hill, where he usually does not go well, Stoch took 17th and 19th place. Seemingly without tragedy, but the jumper’s words were definitely more worrying. – There is no fun, there is toil and lack of finding the golden mean. I can’t explain it, I got lost somewhere technically. I lost a good base, I can’t find it – he said then.

Stoch on Kulm often cannot get used to the invasion there. Poorly chosen position when driving down the runway then reflected on the behavior after the take-off, in flight, and mammoths are not forgiving of mistakes. The Pole has had problems there many times in his career, which caused him to lose balance in his jumping technique. In Willingen, the problems only deepened – in Saturday’s competition, Stoch took 25th place, and a day later he did not advance to them, he was 51st in qualifying.

– If I hadn’t gone to Kulm, perhaps we would have talked in a completely different tone – Stoch told Skijumping.pl on Sunday. According to our information, before the competition in Austria there was no discussion about not going there, because the facility is not suitable for the competitor. Understandably, he wanted to fight for the best result and hoped that having been in good shape for several weeks, he would also break in that unfortunate place for him. Unfortunately, it turned out completely different. “We roll up our sleeves, raise our heads and keep fighting,” Stoch wrote after Kulm, still motivated to get up. Now anger and bitterness prevail in him, although he tries not to lose hope for a return to good jumping. And that’s why after the weekend he will return to Poland to rest from jumping, and then calmly train.

Szturc noticed Stoch’s mistake. “That’s exactly how it works for him”

– Of course, you can see it – Jan Szturc tells us when we ask about the mistake made by Stoch. – On the take-off, Kamil’s inrun position is in the back, a little low in terms of the hip. Coaches say that the jumper “bounces back to front”. You can see that this is exactly how it works for him – explains the first coach of Adam Małysz, who still works with young players in Wisła Ustronianka.

“It’s not good and I think the break, the skipping of the Lake Placid race, should be very good for what happens after that.” You can see that he’s getting tired for now, he doesn’t feel good about it and changes are needed. He needs to feel his legs in the reflection again – adds the trainer.

“It’s not a big crisis. It doesn’t need a lot of change, just calm.”

So how to put together a technically lost jumper? – A few training sessions on small objects and he should regain good feeling. Sometimes in jumping a lot can change in a very short time. Kamil is in a place where if one jump could destroy everything, now one jump can help rebuild everything – believes Szturc.

– I am not surprised that in such difficult conditions as in Willingen, as well as after the competition on the Kulm hill, which does not suit him, everything fell apart for Kamil. However, the decision of coach Thomas Thurnbichler is the right one, taken at the right time. There are 20 days left until the first competition of the World Championships, you can give him a rest and train, and then possibly bring him back to the competition in Rasnov, Romania. This will be the time when Kamil will be able to work it all out and get back in shape – he points out.

The situation is similar to last year, when Stoch was withdrawn after qualifying for the third competition of the 4-Hills-Tournament in Innsbruck. Then, however, an injury happened to him before the competition in Zakopane, when he was supposed to start competing again after several days of break. In the World Cup before the Olympic Games in Beijing, however, he appeared only in Willingen, then the last competition before the flight to China. Now, if he returns, it will be in Rasnov, which is also the last World Cup competition before the World Championships in Planica, the main event of the season.

– This is not a big crisis. The situation with the withdrawal is quite similar to last year, but the most important thing is that there is no need for a lot of changes, only calm. This break will allow Kamil to clear his head, reset without starts. If he is in the right form, he will return to Rasnov. If he needs another moment, he’ll probably get it. In the end, the goal is a good performance in Planica – points out Jan Szturc.

The Stoch transformation system collapsed. He needs the pre-Olympics note again

And in fact, an important topic of Stoch’s break will be the psyche. Working in this area seemed to be the biggest positive that could be seen in the Pole this season. – sometimes less, sometimes more. Not satisfied, but looking for positives, content even with details. He said he had learned to enjoy even the slightly worse results. He struggled with his nature – an ambition that in previous years did not allow him to accept virtually any place but the podium. Now it’s similar, because Stoch, whom we all know, wakes up in him. And he wants to be the best, that’s normal. However, returning to the top is always taking a few or a dozen small steps, not one or two big ones.

– Sometimes it’s really not much to be a high jumper at the highest level. These are the smallest details, even a minimal shift in the approach position, which will make something not late, and hit on the threshold, that there will be more energy. It all gives you so much confidence. And at certain moments, when he really wants to be on top, he ends up unhappy, because he is constantly looking and wanting, and the further away he gets from him, the more he gets frustrated, annoyed. That’s what I had so far. However, I decided to turn my thinking around 180 degrees and enjoy other, smaller things: fans, being on the hill, the fact that I am jumping at a high level, which many still strive for – said Stoch just over a month ago, during the Four Hills Tournament.

– I’m still maturing – Stoch laughed and continued the description of his mental transformation. – It’s a very complex process. We have contact with a psychologist, various exercises, tasks that we get, because we do most of the work ourselves. A psychologist is never able to get into our head and change our thinking just like that. We prepare ourselves for it, we have to change something and believe that it will bring a beneficial effect. The experience I have accumulated also allows me to do that. To sometimes return to what actually works, and not to wade into a dead end – he explained.

It seems that Stoch has now found himself in a dead end. “It’s just that I give myself too much, I have a lot of ambition. With every good competition or good jumps, I add to myself, sometimes unconsciously, and there comes a moment when I suddenly start to achieve worse results – .

The self-confidence he mentioned a month ago was lost or weakened along with the technical problems. And it had a domino effect. It seems that almost the entire system of thinking that the jumper has prepared has collapsed. Now it sounds like he’s been holding on to this all-too-ambitious version of himself and has just lost control of it. Control over your own thoughts and mind in such a situation must be extremely difficult and Stoch himself says that it is not always possible to maintain it. “In the first half of the season I was very preventive, I had to keep myself in check. Block yourself so as not to give your ambitions a chance to show off. I know that I must first focus on what I have to do, and only then think about ambitions or result goals. But that’s not always the case. And the fact that I want it very much seems to me a positive feature – he pointed out.

A year ago, when Stoch was already after a period of break in starts, and before the Beijing Olympics, that when he was leaving the Four Hills Tournament, he met a beautiful gesture. He got a note of support from the family sitting next to him on the plane, which later went with him everywhere and that he was like “a ray of hope” to him. One has to hope that such a spark, whatever it may be, will appear again. Or during this time, Stoch will find her himself.