It was the Epiphany festival, which may never be repeated again. How much nervous and worried we were before that day!
The “senior” screamed and played
On January 3, Polish journalists swarmed in Innsbruck. After second places in Oberstdorf and Garmisch-Partenkirchen he became the leader of the 65th 4-Hills-Tournament. The Pole was 0.8 points ahead of Austrian Stefan Kraft and 6.6 points ahead of Norwegian Daniel Andre Tande. He was fifth and eighth.
At Bergisel, Stoch won both training sessions and did not jump in qualifying. – It was the coach’s decision, not mine. I would like to jump, especially since I like Bergisel very much. But I do not argue with the decision of a senior officer – Stoch told us.
Our coach, played with rivals. And he held the frame with an iron hand. Already in Oberstdorf he scolded Jan Ziobro for joking when they ran into each other in the KO pair.
Ochrzan for Żła and Ziobro, and to Kot: “Koniec, kur …”
The jumpers came up with the idea of organizing a weigh-in similar to what boxers go through the day before the fights.
Jan Ziobro and Piotr Żyła during the ‘weigh-in’ they organized during the Four Hills Tournament https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100044273807220
Horngacher decided that the jumpers were making silly jokes and that they should concentrate on the start. – It was just a stupid joke and we did it unnecessarily. -.
In Innsbruck, Kot got into it. And us. After the second place in qualifying (Żyła was third, Kraft won), the cat was nervously looking under the dressing room to see if an Austrian was coming. The jumper was standing in front of the Sport.pl camera a little over four minutes (we saw how the stopwatch in the device was working), when Horngacher suddenly appeared next to us and in impeccable Polish said: “end, fuck …”. The trainer explained that the jumpers should fulfill their media duties as quickly as possible and accumulate energy for the next competition day.
“There are no fractures.” Stoch fell and the doctor took a risk
This day was crazy. In the trial series, Stoch was the best. But he fell on an uneven landing and bruised his shoulder and knee. – There are big inequalities here. Everyone is complaining about them, he was nervous.
We’ve all been nervous for two days. Stoch took part in the competition with a sore hand. He was fourth in the single-series wind lottery. Tande gained the most from it. The Norwegian won and became the leader of the 4-Hills-Tournament. His advantage over Stoch was only 1.7 points. The third Kraft was losing to the leading one, 16.6 points. Żyła was fifth, and Kot was seventh.
But we were all concerned if Stoch would go to and finish the Tournament. He was coming down from Bergisel, holding his arm as if it were broken. Małysz carried the skis behind him. From the hill, Stoch went to the hospital.
Until the late evening hours, we called Dr. Aleksander Winiarski to find out about the results of Kamil’s research. “There are no fractures,” the staff physician finally told us with relief. Later, after arriving in Bischofshofen, the doctor admitted that he had risked giving Stoch permission to start in Innsbruck. “I was afraid of the fractures,” he said.
Stoch scared. They rivaled us
In Bischofshofen, Stoch immediately won the training. He boomed 141 meters. And he grabbed his knee, which also suffered in Innsbruck. We didn’t see Kamil in the second training series or in qualifying.
– Kamil, despite the considerable discomfort, is able to jump, which we have seen. The hand is not entirely movable, we will certainly do knee tests. We will all the time make sure that the discomfort that Kamil feels is smaller for the competition – the doctor announced.
Despite the discomfort, Stoch was unstoppable. On January 6, 2017, he first won the trial series and later gave no one a chance in the competition. Second Michael Hayboeck was 5.9 points worse. The third Żyła lost 13.6 points to the winner.
Tande could not stand it, the cat was injured
The one who was supposed to be Stoch’s main rival did not cope at all. Tande took only 26th place. And in the 4-Hills-Tournament he finally fell from first to third place.
- Kamil Stoch 997.8 points
- Piotr Żyła 35.3 points loss
- Daniel Andre Tande -56
- Maciej Kot -63.5
This is what the opening credits of that tournament looked like. After the competition in Bischofshofen, Tande said that he could not stand the pressure. And that he was so nervous that he forgot to fasten the binding on the right ski before the first jump. As a result, the Norwegian resisted the fall. He landed with one ski between 110 and 112 meters, and fell on two legs only at 117 meters. And the judges mistakenly wrote down just such a distance to him.
Daniel Andre Tande, Bischofshofen 2017 screen from Eurosport
You can see that jump here:
– If a mistake was made, the national team had only 15 minutes from the jump to lodge a protest. Later they are not considered -.
“Damn it!”. Malysz in tears
We did not file a protest. Maybe it’s a pity. The cat could stand on the final podium together with Stoch and Żyła. And in the history of the event only three times it happened that the entire podium was taken by jumpers from one team.
– Well, I cried, poor man. Holy shit, you could only dream of something like that – said Małysz, who was so happy.
Stoch’s triumph was the second Polish success in the 4-Hills-Tournament after Małysz’s victory in the 2000/2001 season. – It is amazing how we snatched this tournament from our rivals. The Austrians have always dominated lately and now we have won the most demanding event. The World Cup is more important, but it’s not that difficult. Only the strongest can survive here. Now you can see who is the strongest – Małysz rejoiced.
It was a power awakening
It really was a show of Polish power. And he was all the more happy because we remembered the failed previous winter. In the last season of the term, the best Pole, Stoch, was only 22nd in the general classification. And in the 4-Hills-Tournament from that sad winter, Stoch was 23. And that was also the best Polish result.
– We already had great coaches and Horngacher is amazing. He has faith in the players, he brought them to the top in a very short time. Of course, they made it easier for him, because they are great jumpers, but it was necessary to wake up everything in them, show that they can – said Małysz.
– Are you satisfied that you urged the Polish Ski Association to hire Horngacher from the very beginning? – we asked. – Stefan came, you all persuaded me to come to the union and now I am very happy that it is a success – answered Małysz.
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.
