. I spoke to the sports director of the Polish Ski Association right after the sensational inauguration of the 2013/2014 Olympic season. The competition was won by Krzysztof Biegun. The second Polish leader of the World Cup (after Adam Ma³ysz, of course) in jumping was a man who competed in the competition of the highest rank only for the second time in his life.
Then there were 75 days until the start of the Olympics in Sochi. “However, there are 1538 days left to the Pyeongchang Olympics in 2018” – surprised Siderek. “We are also counting down the time to the event in Korea. We have everything divided into micro- and macrocycles, the coaches are well versed, they know how to work. We secure everything we can” – the director surprised.
Młokos prayed, the masters called
In we wanted to see the future champion. Sure, he only won one lottery contest. One-lot. With such difficult wind conditions that they called their coaches and Anders Bardal, the two best jumpers of the 2012/2013 season, finally gave up.
But Biegun was in that crazy Klingenthal in a crazy form for almost a rookie. The 19-year-old from Gilowice came to his second World Cup (he made his debut a few months earlier on flights in Oberstdorf and scored a point for 30th place). He started from ninth and 12th in Friday’s practice sessions and from 15th in qualifying. In Saturday’s team he started with, and. With his older and already titled friends, he won the fourth place. But of the Poles, he was the best. And individually, he had the fourth note in the competition.
On Sunday, however, he was simply the best of all who jumped.
– We saw Schlierenzauer talking to his coach on the phone, we don’t know what they said to each other, but we know that they made the decision together. Probably a similar call was made by Bardal. The competition was prolonged, long waited for the conditions for the last two jumpers to be better. After all, they did not want to wait anymore and there is no point in commenting on it. They are on the results list at the end, they didn’t start, that’s their decision. There is no point in getting emotional with their decision – Siderek told us. And he added: – In Kuusamo, for the inauguration of previous seasons, many competitions were held under even worse conditions. Therefore, there is no need to dramatize. I am sorry, but if someone did not want to jump, they did not give up. It is a pity that the two best players did not try to compete, but we cannot help it.
– I prayed that the first series would be finished. I am very happy, said the sensational winner. “It helped me a bit that I trained in Klingenthal before the season,” he added.
“I was afraid that I would make history from hero to zero”
Pole looked great, but he did not become a champion. A week later he was “only” 18th in Kuusamo. Or as many as 18. Because he was not originally selected for the trip. He was going to be getting ready for the Universiade and then for the World Junior Championships.
– I was not supposed to go there, it was always windy there, there were accidents, like Thomas Morgenstern’s somersault in the air. But I wasn’t afraid of it at all. Flip it goes everywhere, it just happens. Fortunately, I always came out unscathed from falls, so I was calm in this respect. I thought more about what was said about Kuusamo and the form – that if you jump well, you can lose your form there, you can get out of balance and tire for half a season. Therefore, when I was going to Kuusamo, I thought to myself: “Jesus, what if I don’t work out?” The pressure increased a lot in the week. So that I was afraid of failure and that they would eat me for it. I was driving as a leader, and I was a boy unaccustomed to the World Cup. I wasn’t prepared enough to wear the leader jersey. I was afraid that in a week I would go over the story from hero to zero – says Biegun.
And he saved the plastron and threw it into the wardrobe
He took 18th place with relief. – I was very pleased. My blood pressure is gone. For me, such a place was a really great success. Even though I won the week before – he says.
As it turned out, the 18th place allowed him to keep the plastron of the World Cup leader. He lost it for a while. The organizers calculated the points incorrectly and it turned out that after the second place in Kuusamo, the Pole was ahead of Marinus Kraus. After a few minutes, an error in the calculation was noticed. – I wasn’t pissed at all. I laughed at this confusion – says our sensational winner. – And I have a plastron somewhere. It is in the closet – he adds.
Funeral after the wedding
Between the capture and defense of this plastron, the Pole returned to Poland for his grandmother’s funeral. – Grandma died on Friday, and I didn’t find out until Sunday. My parents decided not to tell me beforehand to take it easy. After I won, there was decoration and conference, and only afterwards I came to the car to Łukasz Kruczek, who stayed with me when the rest of the boys went to the hotel. And when I got in the car, I talked to my mother. I heard that everything is fine, that they are very happy, but tomorrow I have to get off in Nysa, because there will be grandma’s funeral. Shock – he recalls.
The 2013/2014 season was a continuous sine wave for the Pole. In November he became the leader of the World Cup and in November he defended his lead, in December to go to the Universiade and win two gold and one silver medals. Then he returned to the World Cup and started the 4-Hills-Tournament without success (27th place in Oberstdorf, 31st place in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, elimination in qualifying in Innsbruck and no start in Bischofshofen). Finally, after successful performances in Wisła (20th place) and Zakopane (15th), he found out that there was no place for him in the Polish national team for the Olympics in Sochi. Then he was sixth individually at the Junior World Championships, and he won the gold medal with the team. After this success, he did not return to the World Cup for any competition of that season! And in the next three seasons he only collected 10 starts and never scored. Finally, at the age of only 24, he ended his career.
Why was Pole not a great jumper? – A few years after 2014 I was jumping at the staff level. But when he came to Poland, there was no motivation. Then all the facilities broke down when it comes to the level. On top of that, there was no money. I had no results, no sponsor […]. Probably in the fall of 2017, I started earning extra money as a pizza delivery man. And when I was removed from the team, I went on tour for two months – says the former jumper.
About marathons (even 46-hour ones!) Behind the wheel, about the attempts to combine them with jumping and about Stefan Horngacher’s “play”, which he eventually gave up on jumping.
Source: Sport
Tristin is an accomplished author and journalist, known for his in-depth and engaging writing on sports. He currently works as a writer at 247 News Agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the sports industry.
