Tomasiak's trouble before the Olympic medal fight — sensational trial results

Kacper Tomasiak failed to impress in the trial round before the Olympic large‑hill duets competition in Predazzo. The Polish sensation jumped 125.5 m, which placed him 11th in the trial. The somewhat surprising winner of the trial round was Gregor Deschwanden. Paweł Wąsek also performed well.

Photo credit: PAP/Grzegorz Momot — Kacper Tomasiak

Tomasiak is carrying Poland's hopes at the 2026 Games in Italy. The 19‑year‑old has already won two medals — a silver and a bronze: he was second on the normal hill and on Saturday finished third on the large hill. Paweł Wąsek placed 14th. In Monday's trial round the Polish pair showed encouraging signs.

After the first ten trial jumps the leader was Italy's Giovanni Bresadola with 133.5 m. Shortly after, Paweł Wąsek took off and produced a respectable 130 m. Then Johann Andre Forfang jumped 133 m, which put the Norwegian well in front for a time.

One of the bigger surprises of the trial round was France's Valentin Foubert, who jumped 131 m from a lowered start gate and sat just behind Forfang. Gregor Deschwanden also impressed — his 130.5 m gave him the lead.

Short jump from Kacper Tomasiak

Tomasiak produced one of the weaker jumps on the Italian hill, reaching 125.5 m. After the jump he was 10th in the running order.

Ultimately the trial round was won by Gregor Deschwanden, ahead of Kristoffer Eriksen Sundal and Johann Andre Forfang. Kacper Tomasiak finished 11th and Paweł Wąsek 12th.

Adam Bucholz noted on X that the trial round scoring (169.8 points) was won by the Norwegians. The hosts Italy were second (162.0) and Austria third (158.6). Poland posted the fourth best score — 158.1 points. Domen Prevc (Slovenia) and both Japanese starters withdrew from the trial round.

The competition is scheduled to start at 19:00.

Saturday's results context

If Olympic medals were decided by the results of Saturday's individual contest, Poland would be fourth, narrowly off the podium. The winners would have been the Japanese pair Ren Nikaido and Ryoyu Kobayashi. Second would be Austria (Jan Hoerl and Stephan Embacher) and bronze would go to Norway (Kristoffer Eriksen Sundal and Johann Andre Forfang). Germany and Slovenia (including recent large‑hill winner Domen Prevc) would also be medal contenders.

Duet competitions in ski jumping have been staged since 2023; the first was at a World Cup in Lake Placid and was won historically by Poland's Dawid Kubacki and Piotr Żyła. The duet format includes three rounds: the second round has the top 12 teams and the third round the top eight.

Source: PSO / PAP