Polish skiing is chasing a world power. “They built everything from scratch”

Polish skiing has not had such a good press for a long time. Mainly for the case. Our giant in February 2021, during the world championships, took sixth place in the crown competition, and in the top ten she was also in the parallel competition. Eventually, she finished in sixth places in the World Cup. Medal hopes before the Olympics are growing, Polish skiing fans are in a better mood and almost no one remembers that a few years ago this discipline was almost never written at all. So what has changed and are there really reasons for optimism?

“Slovaks in skiing are a lot ahead of us”

A few years ago we were envious of the Slovaks. They were the first to see Veronika Velez-Zuzulova, who led the team to the world runner-up in 2017, and won the competition five times throughout her career. Then came an even bigger star – Petra Vlhova, who first won the gold medal M¦ in Aare, and then the large Crystal Ball. The first ever for her country. She also added medals from the globe championship. At that time, the Poles hoped that Maryna Gą sienica-Daniel would reach the world leaders and watched with jealousy what the Slovaks were achieving.

– The Slovaks have a lot ahead of us. They have more possibilities, they are better organized and they have a better workshop. We even have a problem with snowing and preparing the routes – said Wojciech Gajewski, a skiing coach and FIS delegate who has been going to Slovakia for years, in Polityka in March 2016. He helped, among others in the organization of the P¦ competition in Jasna – the main Slovak base. He looked at it all with appreciation, but also with envy. There were no routes in Poland on which to train professionally.

– One in Szczyrk at a good level, but at a low altitude. The slope on Harenda in Zakopane, which is exactly south and actually from mid-February, it is difficult to find the conditions needed for training. Slovaks have a lot of it. High Tatras, Jasna with a huge number of perfectly prepared routes, not counting smaller places – said Gajewski.

Now the situation is to be badly different. We spoke to the author of the above words today. And as he was then strongly critical of Polish conditions, now he shows many positives. – One can say that a lot has changed during these six years – confirms Sport.pl Wojciech Gajewski. And it shows that thanks to the agreement with the Polish Linear Railways, it was possible to create better training conditions for the clubs. – The routes are now more prepared for the riders. They are hard and steeper – explains the Polish FIS delegate.

Polish skiing caught up with Slovak, but not in everything

– We have not caught up with them yet, because we do not have so many gigantic routes, but because we have Szczawnica, more open Krynica or Mosorny Groñ, we got closer. I can even say that the Slovaks are coming to Szczawnica, where they are preparing to compete in the World Cup – adds Gajewski.

Comparing the sports level of both countries, it seems that Poland fares better on the international arena in the world of a giant of women. While Petra Vlhova is still better than Maryna Gąsienica-Daniel in the FIS ranking, it is difficult to look for her other compatriot. First, it is 64 in the world ranking. This is over a hundred places higher than the second-ranked Slovak – Sona Maravcikova, who has not yet made her debut in P¦. The young Polish woman even has points. Then there are two more of our gigantists, and then another of the S³owaczki.

The situation is similar in the slalom, although Maryna Gąsienica-Daniel does not actually start in it. In this case, however, the best of the white-and-reds is Micha³ Jasiczek, who is 129 on the list of points. 19 places higher is the best of the Slovaks – Adam ¯ampa. In the speed competition, Slovakia fares a bit better, but when assessing the overall abilities of competitors from both countries, the situation has become even.

Our neighbors, however, can boast of men’s P¦ points. In the Polish case, only Micha³ Jasiczek has the right to start. Recently he was in Adelboden and took 42nd place. The Slovaks also have a brother of Adam ¯ampa – Andreas. He has the right to start in a giant and also scores P¦ points from time to time. – In the case of men, the competition is at such a level that it is difficult to catch up with the world leaders – explains Wojciech Gajewski. And he adds that the Slovak duo of brothers has created a private team and is building the form on their own. This is also the case of the Jasiczek brothers (apart from Michał, there is also Jêdrzej).

Preparing alpine for their own pocket

It is worth emphasizing, however, that there is actually no male senior citizen in Poland. It was established, but the training is paid for by the players themselves. – The players receive from us insurance, clothes, the possibility of sports competition, administrative and substantive support, offices and assistance in the event of an injury. Additionally, they have the opportunity to obtain funds from District Ski Associations, explained Jan Winkiel, secretary general of the Polish Ski Association, in the spring of last year.

PZN focused more on training from scratch. In the case of seniors, a union cannot afford to meet all the requirements. Nearly two years ago, the Jasiczków family allegedly wanted to maintain a staff of seven. This is definitely beyond the federation’s powers. – We are now focusing on the six-person youth team of men – explains Winkiel. The group consists of: Pawe³ Pyjas, Micha³ Michalik, Jan Grodecki, Bartosz Szko³a, Bart³omiej Sanetra and Przemys³aw Bia³obrzycki.

The elders create their own teams and pay with the funds of parents, friends, sponsors or online. Sounds bizarre? It seems that this is the reality in this incredibly expensive sport. At least in our part of Europe. The Austrians have close centers. For us, the fee of at least EUR 80 per day at the training camp is definitely more than for skiers who have the Alps at hand. And to this you have to add access and other aspects related to the trip. If we wanted to catch up with the best, we would have to spend a fortune on trips.

– Famous Slovak and Czech players come from family teams. It was not that the federations were behind the success. It seems to me that a lot depends on our being patient. In countries like ours, the results come a bit later, we need a little more time to get to the top. And in Poland, all competitors finished early. It is possible that at the moment when they could only start to achieve good results – as if confirming that what is important is self-denial and – above all – the wealth of the wallet.

The new goal of Polish skiing. We’re chasing Norway now

– Now, compared to Slovakia, we really have nothing to be ashamed of – emphasizes Marcin Blauth, vice-president for alpine skiing at PZN. Should we already open champagnes, since Slovakia – apart from the great Vlhova – is not a very significant country in the world of alpine skiing? It turns out that in this connection they have not compared themselves to their southern neighbors for a long time. – If we take an example, it is from the Norwegians. They built everything from scratch in the 1980s and are a power in skiing, even though they are not an Alpine country, Blauth admits surprisingly. After all, Norway is a group of great stars.

It is good, however, that Slovakia is not an example. Especially that in recent years their relationship had the bad press. At the end of 2020, the federation was separated from, inter alia, Petra Vlhova. In the background there were problems with the union’s solvency and the bizarre accusation of the then president against the current rulers in Slovakia. Later, the local Ministry of Education, Science and Sport revoked the status of the Slovak Ski Association from the Slovak Ski Association. Everything was fixed after a few months, but the disgust remained.

– Therefore, if we are to follow someone today, it will be the Scandinavian countries. I know it doesn’t sound serious now, but since we’ve built a power in w, why shouldn’t we be able to do alpine skiing? Norwegians have mountains, but we have them too, dreams of Marcin Blauth. And, importantly, he emphasizes that in the future PZN intends to focus also on the development of players with predispositions in speed competitions. – But it is mainly about the super-giant. So far, we have only had individuals who wanted to specialize in this. Now we are going to want to form a group. I think that Maryna will soon show that the road from giant to supergiant is not that long – explains the vice president of PZN.

It seems that the situation in Polish skiing is getting better every year. It is still not perfect and maybe even far away. One may also ask why it is so late. The most important thing, however, is that there is a vision and models from which PZN wants to draw. Even if today the chances of catching up with the country of the fjords seem very unrealistic. We will hold the activists accountable for these announcements in a few years.

At the Olympics, however, we will still mainly watch “Ultra Maryna”, which will try to use its medal chance in a giant. This one is scheduled for February 7. In addition, Polish hope will probably start in the super-giant and combination. At 95 percent she will also be able to fight in team competitions. Two women and two men take part in them. Thanks to the great performance of Gąsienica-Daniel in the World Cup and Magda Łuczak’s points, Poland is thirteenth in the Nations Cup classification. This is why our team will be able to debut in this spectacular struggle. And thanks to this, as many as two of our Alpine people will appear in Beijing. May this be mainly due to their excellent results in four years’ time.