The painful mystery of Malysz explained. For years Poles have been asking: What’s going on?

“His skis are rolling, his skis are in the wind, fantastic!” – shouted Włodzimierz Szaranowicz during the first series of the last competition won by the competition – in 2011 in. His jumps did not lack one of the most characteristic elements of the legendary athlete’s style. Just noticed by a TVP commentator “flying skis”.

A dramatic fall made Małysz “fly” a ski. “The error was fixed all the time”

For years, fans wondered where Ma³ysz had this strange ailment. The answer was already brought by an anecdote quoted by the jumper in an interview for Maciej Kurzajewski and Sebastian Szczęsny, with whom he published it in the form of the book “My Life” in the winter of 2004.

“Once something similar happened in Zakopane” – described Małysz, referring to the fall in Salt Lake City, which ended his 2003/2004 season prematurely. He talked about an event from the 90s, when the Czech Pavel Mikeska was the coach of the Polish team, and Małysz had his greatest successes yet to come. “Since then, I have had problems with my left ski all the time. I am not able, in flight, to properly pull it towards me. I remember jumping in training, I got out of the threshold and got a strong gust from the side. I flew forward over my head. I hit against the head. landing, I broke the binding and the ski stuck vertically into the landing, and I tumbled down “- he explained.

Although the description of the fall sounds dramatic, nothing serious happened to Małysz. “I was just generally bruised, my foot was sprained and my toe was knocked out. Later, this injured leg did not work as it should, but Mikeska’s coach did not pay attention to it, so this mistake was perpetuated all the time” – explained Małysz in the book “Moje life”.

Malysz’s leg was blocked. “She always started to hang”

We asked the former jumper, and now the ski jumping director, to elaborate a bit on the subject of the fall and the injury that had plagued him throughout the rest of his career. – I almost did a somersault. Luckily, knock on it, nothing happened and I just had a sprained ankle. But then some adhesions prevented this ankle joint from being as flexible as it was in the right leg. There was a blockage. Back then, no one was looking at physiotherapists, with the current systems of work it would probably be easy to correct. And for me, the error persisted – Adam Małysz points to Sport.pl.

This is how Małysz’s “flying ski” was born, which he tried to pull to his body for several seconds of staying in the air, but the foot was always pointing down. – I couldn’t pull this ski towards me. After leaving the threshold, she always began to hang. I wanted her to come up and hence there were hesitations and such waves in flight – explains the Pole. – There is definitely more resistance on the mammoth hills and it was not so visible, but on smaller hills I had to correct it all the time – he adds.

The judges lowered the marks, but Małysz’s jumps did not lose their charm. “It was hard to get used to this foot”

The whole thing at the beginning, when it was something new for Małysz, irritated him a bit. Later he got used to it. “I wasn’t paying attention to it anymore,” he says. However, the style notes might have been a problem for him. – I remember that the judges themselves told me: in the flight phase, Adam will always have from half a point to a point less – recalls Małysz’s first coach, Jan Szturc. – It wasn’t a big deduction, right down to the point. But it happened that Adam was actually lowered his marks by it. Although perhaps a bigger problem, especially with those very long jumps, was landing – tells us the international judge, Kazimierz Bafia.

– Have we tried to correct it? Sure, many times. But when Adam came to me with this, it was already a moment when it was a little late. This was already established and it was very difficult to wean this foot from functioning in this way. It turned into such a landmark in his leaps. On the one hand, something that shouldn’t be in them, on the other, something that nobody else had. In a way, he distinguished himself and it did not take away his charm, maybe even added something special – he points out.

Malysz finally breathed out. “I don’t have any troubles anymore”

What is the case of Małysz’s ankle now? – It was only at the end of my career that I found a specialist in Austria who probably torn these adhesions in the ankle joint. Now I don’t do any competitive sports anymore, so I approach everything differently and don’t overload my body in the same way as before – she judges.

– I know that the condition of this pond improved after these treatments in Austria. Maybe it would be a problem if I did more than sometimes. But I don’t have any problems with it anymore – adds Małysz.