Big consequences for Poland after Ruka: worst news ahead of the Four Hills Tournament

Poland has just lost one starting place for the entire Four Hills Tournament. Since the start of the season, coach Maciej Maciusiak has been able to field six Polish jumpers in World Cup competitions and even used the national quota in Wisła. But December brought an unfamiliar setback for Polish fans: results in the Continental Cup (COC) cost Poland the additional World Cup quota for the next period.

After poor World Cup outings, Aleksander Zniszczoł was sent to the Continental Cup in Ruka to help defend Poland’s six-man quota. He failed to deliver: finishes of 15th and 10th only added points to his personal COC tally but were not enough to protect Poland’s team allocation. Klemens Joniak shone in Ruka—fifth on Saturday and seventh on Sunday after being close to a historic podium at halfway—but his results alone could not compensate.

Because no Pole outscored Norway’s Robin Pedersen, Austria’s Maximilian Ortner, or Japan’s Junshirō Kobayashi in the relevant quota race, Poland loses the extra spot. As a result, Maciusiak will be able to take only five athletes to the Four Hills Tournament.

Up to now, Poland had six men regularly on the World Cup start list, with Kacper Tomasiak the most consistent among them, and the staff used the Wisła national quota to showcase Maciej Kot in place of Zniszczoł. In hindsight, the staff may regret not sending Kot to Ruka’s COC, where his points might have helped secure the sixth place.

The Four Hills Tournament is set to start with qualifying in Oberstdorf on Sunday, 28 December, and the KO-format competitions run into early January. Poland can still try to reclaim the sixth spot for later World Cup stops in Zakopane and Sapporo, depending on the Continental Cup results in Engelberg (27–28 December).