The Rocket from Ząb: Portrait of Kamil Stoch
When young, a 12-year old pre jumper in 1999 jumped on the Wielka Krokiew hill in Zakopane 128 meters - everybody was shocked. The thin Polish boy gave the longest jump of the day and became a litlle sensation, althrough he didn’t realize that he beat all the stars. This tiny boy was Kamil Stoch.
He was born on 25th May 1987. At the age of 3 he began his passion connected with skis. At the age of 8 he joined the ski club LKS Ząb where he trained Nordic combined.
In 1999 he achieved his first success – he won in the international championships of the youngsters in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, where he won only 0,5 point ahead of Matevz Sparovec and Antonin Hajek.
After his famous jump to 128 meters in Zakopane he got attention of the coaches and Polish media. Here is the video interview with the 12-year-old Stoch:
Translation of the video: “I started to jump for the first time four years ago. To jump got me the founder of the LKS Ząb ski club. I’m so happy that I jumped here on this hill 128 meters and because of the triumph in the Polish junior championships in Szczyrk. One month ago, around 6pm my coach called me on the phone that we will go on the next day on the training to Zakopane for the first time and I couldn’t sleep at night because of it because I wanted to jump, I already seen it in front of my eyes. But I managed to sleep. On the next day I woke up, my coach lift me and we came together here. I went to the top of the hill, I felt a little bit scared, but I put on my shoes, sit on the start gate and at the takeoff of the hill I forgot about everything, my fear, trembles and I jumped 112 meters in the first jump, I was happy because of that, then I gave the second jump on 120 meters and I gave a total of 20 jumps on this hill, the longest was 128 meters and that’s all. I would like to perform at the Olympics, get the golden medal, but for now I have time for that, maybe for 5 or 6 years I will start in the Olympics if I will be jumping well.”
Years without huge successes.
In the season 2000/2001 he debuted in the Continental Cup, but he didn’t achieve good results.
In the season 2003/2004 Stoch gained his first Continental Cup points by placing on the 20th position in the competition in Planica. In the same season he also debuted in the World Cup during the competition in Zakopane where he finished 49th.
On the 5th of February he got his first silver medal at the World Junior Championships in the team competition.
In the season 2004/2005 he stood on the podium of a CoC competition for the first time – he finished 3rd in St. Moritz. On 11th of February in Pragelato Stoch took the 7th place, got his very first World Cup points and what’s more important he beat Adam Małysz, who finished 9th!
He was very quick named the successor of Adam Małysz, but for a very long time the results didn’t confirm it. His supporters had to be patient – he didn’t achieve good results beside few good results in the competitions of 4th place on the normal hill during the World Championships in Liberec. In 2010 he found himself in the team for the Olympics in Vancouver, but he had to wait for better results.
The patience paid off
The first successes came in the season 2010/2011. Before the start of the season he found himself in the A-Team of the Polish national team, which was coached by Lukasz Kruczek. He won the 2010 Summer Continental Cup despite the fact, that he missed half of the competitions. In the Polish summer championships he finished on the second place twice. On 23rd of January 2011 Kamil Stoch achieved his first World Cup victory on the hill in Zakopane. Then came the competition in Klingenthal, where Stoch won for the second time. The season ended in Slovenia's Planica, where Stoch took his third World Cup victory in the very last competition of the winter season. Adam Małysz was third and decided to end his sport career. Stoch ended the season on the 10th position and became the new leader of the Polish team.
In the season 2011/2012 he won twice – in Zakopane and in Predazzo. This season was the best in his career so far, he finished 5th in the general classification.
Golden Stoch
In 2013 Kamil Stoch achieved his first great success – he became the World Champion in Predazzo and with the Polish team he got the bronze medal during the team competition. In the overall World Cup in the season 2012/2013 the Polish representative came in third.
At the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, Stoch won all what he could win. He became the Olympic Champion on the normal and on the big hill. It was Poland's first Olympic ski jumping gold medal since Wojciech Fortuna's victory at the 1972 Olympics in Sapporo. Stoch became also the third ski jumper after Matti Nykaenen in Calgary 1988 and Simon Ammann in Salt Lake City 2002 and Vancouver 2010, who won both individual competitions at one Olympics.
Planica and Predazzo – the Stoch’s important places
Every jumper has his own favorite hills and places from which he has good memories.
In Slovenia's Planica Kamil Stoch gained his first CoC points in the season 2003/2004. Two years later, in 2006 he meet the Polish photographer Ewa Bilan there, and married her in 2010. As he says the marriage changed him in a positive way. Also in Planica in 2011 the competition in which Stoch symbolically took over the leadership of the Polish team took place.
The second important place for Stoch, as well as for ski jumping in Poland, is Italian Predazzo. In 2011 Stoch took there his second World Cup victory and in 2013, exactly ten years after the triumph of Adam Malysz in the World Championships in the same place, he also became World Champion.
The best is yet to come
As Stoch says: "The best is yet to come". For now we can observe how much Stoch enjoys ski jumping after being back after his ankle injury. Will he be able to secure his gold medal from Predazzo also in Falun?
- by Anna Sobol
