Kamil Stoch upbeat after sixth-place finish in normal hill
Poland's three-time Olympic champion was excited despite missing out on the medals in his first event at Beijing 2022.
Ski Jumping
There were no excuses from Kamil Stoch, after he finished out of the medals in the normal hill ski jumping final at the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games on Sunday (7 February).
At only -10°C (14°F) it was the warmest day of the Games so far, and the three-time Olympic gold medallist from Poland was feeling confident after taking third place in the first round.
In the end, he could not keep pace with the top jumpers, with Japan’s Kobayashi Ryoyu putting on a masterclass to claim his first Olympic title.
"The conditions were great," Stoch told Olympics.com afterwards. “So for me, it was also a really good competition starting on a really high level.
"“Small mistakes have huge consequences at this level in ski jumping, and you need to be perfect in both jumps to achieve a medal. I think the guys who won the medals deserved it."
Kamil Stoch: "I just love to do ski jumping, so every jump makes me really happy."
Despite Stoch’s encouraging first round jump, his final position was far from a shock.
The 34-year-old has struggled for form this season, going into the Games ranked 20th and without a victory in the 2021-22 World Cup.
To compound matters, he injured his ankle during a warm-up game of foot tennis at training camp just three weeks ago.
In Saturday’s qualifying round, the double world champion and two-time overall World Cup winner was well below his best, finishing 36th out of 53 competitors.
But even after failing to land his fifth Olympic medal, Stoch was smiling. Despite his unbelievable list of accolades in the sport, his sole reason for competing is to have fun.
“What can I say? I just love it!” he continued. “I just love to do ski jumping, so every jump makes me really happy and I want to do it the best I can. I try to always be the best that I can be. I think this is most important."
On being airborne, he added, “I think that for a moment there, for just a few seconds, you have total freedom and this is the most lovely time in this discipline."
Another reason Stoch may have been smiling, is that his best may still be to come at Beijing 2022.
He became the oldest individual gold medallist in Olympic ski jumping history at PyeongChang 2018, taking victory in the men’s individual large hill event.
In fact, three out of his four Olympic medals have come on the large hill and he will be hoping to rediscover his best form in the discipline with qualification taking place on Friday 11 February.
Before that, Stoch teams up with Sunday's bronze medallist Dawid Kubacki, Nicole Konderla and Kinga Rajda in the first Olympic mixed team ski jumping competition on Monday.
With Konderla and Rajda both failing to qualify for the 30-strong women's individual final round, Poland are unlikely to be medal contenders with Slovenia the warm favourites after Ursa Bogataj and Nika Kriznar took women's gold and bronze on Saturday.