Poland’s coaching staff made the decision after Stoch, a three-time Olympic champion, failed to make the cut for Tuesday’s event in Innsbruck, Austria, finishing a distant 59th in qualification, the onet.pl website reported.
“The coaching staff has decided to withdraw Kamil Stoch from the Four Hills Tournament and the upcoming World Cup events,” the Polish Ski Federation (PZN) said in a statement on Monday.
“Kamil is returning to Poland tomorrow. It is important that he rests for the remainder of the week and then works on his motor skills. Jumping practice will come afterwards,” the PZN added.
The move did not come as a surprise after Stoch’s failure to qualify for the Innsbruck event and his poor performance in the previous contests of this year’s Four Hills Tournament, in Oberstdorf and Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, onet.pl reported.
He will now miss Tuesday’s event in Innsbruck and the tournament decider in Bischofshofen, Austria, on Thursday.
“The problem is not in the conditions, but in my technique,” Stoch told the Eurosport TV channel after Monday’s qualification. “Something is not right… I have to find what the problem is,” he added.
Five other Polish ski jumpers have qualified for the Innsbruck event, but their results were not too promising, onet.pl reported.
Last season, Polish ski jumpers finished runners-up in the World Cup as a team.
Meanwhile, Poland’s Stoch finished third in the overall World Cup standings on an individual basis.
(pm/gs)
Source: onet.pl