Polish ski jumping in a bind: Adam Małysz forces a late pre‑Olympic change

Poland’s men’s ski jumping program finds itself under intense pressure after the Wisła World Cup exposed a deep form slump and a generational gap. Deputy editor Sebastian Parfjanowicz reports that PZN president Adam Małysz has decided to change an internally approved Olympic selection regulation that favored a two‑year FIS Olympic ranking (including Summer Grand Prix 2024 results). Instead, the national coaches will nominate the Olympic team based on current form.

The article cites the underwhelming start to the season—where a single 14th place by Maciej Kot in Wisła suddenly put him in the Olympic discussion—as evidence of how low expectations have fallen. Apart from 18‑year‑old Kacper Tomasiak, who has scored points in every World Cup so far, Polish jumpers have struggled. In the overall World Cup standings, Poland’s top jumper trails even a Bulgarian and a French athlete, and a Polish athlete reportedly lost to an Azerbaijani debutant in an FIS event.

A key structural issue is a pronounced generational hole: many of the World Cup’s top 10 are in the prime 25–30 age window, while Poland has virtually no athletes in that bracket beyond Paweł Wąsek. The piece argues this gap partly traces back to the Stefan Horngacher era, when the A‑team was highly closed and training was kept in‑house, limiting fresh blood. After Horngacher, internal conflicts and inconsistent planning compounded the problem.

Małysz, however, projected calm in Wisła and voiced trust in head coach Maciej Maciusiak, signaling a dual approach: keep supporting the veterans (Kamil Stoch, Dawid Kubacki, Piotr Żyła, Aleksander Zniszczoł) while opening doors wide for prospects like Tomasiak. Crucially, Małysz confirmed he had spoken with PZN board members and that allowing the two‑year ranking to dictate Olympic spots would be “the biggest stupidity.” Instead, coaches will propose the roster to the board for approval based on current performance.

International feedback reinforced this move: when asked how their teams choose Olympians, Halvor Egner Granerud and Andreas Wellinger answered simply—those in the best form go, regardless of past‑period ranking points.

Yet another bind remains: Poland has until January 18 to collect enough World Cup points to keep a fourth Olympic quota. Ironically, the points that matter most for the nation’s quota prospects must come from the very veterans currently out of form (Wąsek, Kubacki, Stoch, Zniszczoł), making it hard to send them into training blocks instead of competitions. Both Kubacki and Wąsek responded with class, acknowledging that if others are clearly better, they should go to the Games.

The article closes on a bleak grassroots note: the Orlen Cup competitions for the broader domestic pool, scheduled for December 15–16 in Zakopane, were abruptly cancelled despite ample snow, because the hill could not be prepared—an emblematic setback for rebuilding depth.