Wisła and Zakopane – the Polish Tournament
Wisła and Zakopane – the Polish Tournament
World Cup competitions are held in Zakopane since 1980. In Wisła only since 2012. But now, 3 years later, the competitions in Poland are gathering thousands of ski jumping fans and great opinions from experts and athletes all over the world. Even if in this year the strong wind and bad weather conditions are destroying the plans of the organizers (in Wisła there was only one round of the competition, the qualification in Zakopane was moved to the other day) the atmosphere is still amazing and that’s why the ski jumpers really love to come here. Thanks to Adam Małysz ski jumping is a very popular sport in Poland. On the wave of his success the hill in his hometown Wisla was rebuilt and modernized and now is named after him. The four days of rivalry in Poland are slowly becoming a tradition in the World Cup calendar. A few years ago the authorities of ski jumping in Poland came up with the idea to create a tournament on the model of the Four Hills Tournament. The idea was to create a tournament, which would be held on the hills in Poland and in the Czech Republic. According to Apoloniusz Tajner, the president of the Polish Ski Federation, two competitions would be held in Harrachov, two in Zakopane and one in Wisła. In this way these competitions would be an important point of the World Cup.
To this day these plans were not realized, but the idea is interesting. For the years 2017-2018 the modernization of the hill in Zakopane is planned and maybe after this the FIS will agree to this idea. But for now we just have to enjoy the competitions in Poland, which are unique each year.
Today the team competition awaits us. Will the Polish team meet the expectations of tens of thousand of spectators? One thing is certain – the white-red crowd once again will be delighted to welcome the world's jumping elite.
- by Anna Sobol
