It's Absurd! Poles Have No Way to Train! Adam Małysz Reveals the Truth

It's Absurd! Poles Have No Way to Train! Adam Małysz Reveals the Truth

Ski Jumping

One jumping hill is perfectly prepared, but no one is using it because the lift is under maintenance. On another hill, there's no snow due to a broken pipe. We worry about the form of Polish ski jumpers, but this is just one of many problems, as there are significantly more. "This is always frustrating," says Polish Ski Association president Adam Małysz.

Polish jumpers... cannot jump. "There was a lift, but it's closed," says Adam Małysz. "We have facilities, but no one is training there. The PZN wants to implement improvements, but the problem is the 'terrible costs' of these improvements. Now, a technical inspection is in the way in Wisła, and another problem arises in Zakopane. From Friday to Sunday, World Cup competitions were held on the hill in Wisła. On an ideally prepared facility, the world's elite jumped, and everyone praised the event, as the conditions were great and the hill met all requirements. However, Poles finished with a sense of discontent, as they earned points, but no one reached the top ten (the best, Paweł Wąsek, was 11th twice).

They looked like they needed calm training, a series of jumps to sharpen their technique ahead of the upcoming World Cup weekend in Titisee-Neustadt and the Continental Cup in Ruka. Everything seems to be at their fingertips. As it turns out, they’re not jumping. Why?

Adam Małysz: The Lift Was There, but Now It’s Not

"There is no lift now," says Adam Małysz briefly. Yet on Sunday, there still was, an impressive lift was servicing from top to bottom. "It was there, but now it’s not, it’s closed. They are coming to conduct the inspection. It will be out of service for four days," says the president of the Polish Ski Association.

The Central Sports Center, which manages the hill, didn’t coordinate the inspection date with the association. There is an option to transport the jumpers by cars from bottom to top, but is that what it’s all about? "I’ll say this: the most important thing is that the hill in Wisła and Zakopane is available for everyone from next week," insists Małysz, and when we ask if it’s not frustrating, he thinks for a moment.

"On the one hand, it's always frustrating, but on the other, we are starting to communicate with COS and their management. We've been discussing with them for several months how to implement improvements and what to do to make things better. As an association, we take fees for the hill and cross-country tracks for our club athletes. These are monstrous costs. We negotiate prices and we will subsidize," explains Małysz.

Ski Hills Exist, But No One Is Training

The fact is that facilities exist, but no one trains on them. And on top of that, the costs are a problem. "The problem is that the Ministry of Sport can subsidize investments up to 90 percent, but then COS must maintain the facility on its own. We’ve talked many times about prices. We won’t be able to jump for free, although we’ve discussed that clubs should be able to jump for free. In any case, we’ve reached an agreement, and it’s not bad," explains Małysz.

However, they can't jump because the technical inspection in Wisła is just one problem. In Zakopanem, they have another. "It's always a bit irritating. In Zakopan, it’s freezing, the lifts are open because they’ve piled snow, but there is no snow on the jumping hill. Supposedly, they are starting to prepare the K-60 facility, then they will take care of the K-90, but if it’s freezing, they could have done it sooner. A broken pipe is a form of excuse. They had a tank there that they made a few years ago specifically to have more water," remarks Małysz. And for the jumpers heading to Germany and Finland on Thursday, there remains only the gym and recovery.

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