How Poles reacted to the Olympic medal — they can't believe it

Incredible — what happened there?! Poles had already given up their dreams of an Olympic medal, and in the end they took silver in bizarre circumstances. “I can’t believe it,” Paweł Wąsek said immediately after the result. Kacper Tomasiak revealed why this third Olympic medal means so much to him.

The turning point came when FIS decided to cancel the last round just before the final three jumpers. That decision overturned what looked like a lost chance: after the last counted jumps Poland moved onto the podium. Tomasiak now has his third Olympic medal, won together with Paweł Wąsek — and both were stunned by how it all unfolded.

Tomasiak described his unused trial jump — performed in terrible conditions — saying it was impossible to score from: “I thought they might cancel it. I was going 3 km/h slower than the others. You couldn’t jump from that.” Wąsek admitted the achievement still hadn’t sunk in: after a draining season that repeatedly tested him, the Olympic success feels enormous.

— “Amazing. It hasn’t hit me yet. I don’t believe this is how it ended. After such a hard season that broke me so many times on the hill, this is a huge success,” Wąsek told Eurosport. Tomasiak added that the third Olympic medal is especially meaningful because of the circumstances in which it was won.

The article links to further coverage: reactions from figures such as Sven Hannawald and commentary about the cancelled series, plus additional stories about Tomasiak, Wąsek and other Polish jumpers. The reporting is by Dariusz Kosiński and was published on 16 February 2026.