All eyes are on Kacper Tomasiak as he makes his debut on the large hill this weekend. The World Cup competition in Vikersund, Norway, will also feature Kamil Stoch, Piotr Żyła, Maciej Kot, Paweł Wąsek, and Aleksander Zniszczoł. Here’s a look at how the Polish team fared in training before qualifying.
First Training Results in Vikersund
Most of the Polish team began training early. Aleksander Zniszczoł was the first to seize the hill, achieving a jump of 175 meters. Following him was Paweł Wąsek, who unfortunately faltered on his attempt, landing at 133 meters.
Kacper Tomasiak and Maciej Kot performed slightly better. Tomasiak reached 179.5 meters, whereas Kot landed at 185 meters, placing him eighth among the 30 competitors.
Kamil Stoch delivered a solid jump in the first training session, reaching 196 meters. However, Piotr Żyła led the Polish team with the longest jump of the session, soaring to 206 meters.
Domen Prevc topped the training, with an impressive jump of 245 meters.
Second Training Results
In the second training session, Domen Prevc, starting from a lower takeoff point, achieved 234.5 meters, defeating Stephan Embacher (229.5 m) by 32.1 points. Third place went to Andreas Wellinger (232 m), who edged out three Norwegians: Johann Andre Forfang (228.5 m), Isak Andreas Langmo (233 m — a personal best), and Marius Lindvik (233.5 m).
Hektor Kapustik secured seventh place, setting a new Slovakian record with a jump of 227.5 meters. Ren Nikaido (226 m), Naokiem Nakamura (226.5 m), and Gregor Deschwanden (224.5 m) followed.
Piotr Żyła was the best of the Polish jumpers, finishing 22nd with a jump of 208 meters. Maciej Kot was 40th (194.5 m), Kamil Stoch 42nd (186 m), Kacper Tomasiak 44th (186 m — a personal best), Aleksander Zniszczoł 45th (188.5 m), and Paweł Wąsek finished 53rd (163.5 m).
Ben Bayer (178 m), Luca Roth (204 m), and Tarik Vanwieren (149.5 m) also set personal bests during this training session.
Focus on Tomasiak
Tomasiak is the current leader of the Polish national team. At the Olympic Games in Predazzo, he won three medals – two silver and one bronze – and currently holds 17th place in the overall World Cup standings with 391 points. This season marks his first time competing on a large hill, having not participated in the events in Bad Mitterndorf or the World Ski Flying Championships in Oberstdorf.
“My personal best is 144.5 meters from the Continental Cup in Klingenthal last year. Maybe I’ve jumped further in training,” Tomasiak told skijumping.pl.
For 38-year-classic Stoch, who is retiring after this season, this will be his final appearance in Vikersund, where he won in 2017. Austrian Gregor Schlierenzauer has triumphed four times on the Vikersundbakken hill, while Finland’s Matti Nykänen and Slovenia’s Peter Prevc – Domen’s older brother – have each won three times. Stanisław Bobak finished second in Vikersund in 1980, and Piotr Fijas was third six years later. Adam Małysz took third place during the 2010/11 season.
Men’s qualifying is scheduled for Friday at 6:00 PM, with individual competitions taking place on Saturday and Sunday.
