Poland's Kamil Stoch is a true ski jumping great, who won 39 World Cup events and numerous top accolades across the 26 years of his 2000-started senior career.
1987-born Stoch competed at six Winter Games, winning three gold medals and one bronze, which makes him Poland's most successful winter Olympian, as well as the country's ex-aequo second overall (winter and summer) in Olympic golds count. Kamil is also the third best ski jumper overall in Winter Games history, trailing only behind the discipline's legends Matti Nykänen (Finland) and Simon Ammann (Switzerland). Last but not least, he wields the title of the oldest individual Olympic ski jumping champion, with his last gold claimed at 30 in PyeongChang in 2018.
That's not all though, as Stoch also won the ski jumping World Cup twice (the 'Crystal Ball' for the top jumper of the season), the prestigious Four Hills Tournament thrice, and he can boast nine ski jumping World Championships medals (ski flying included), with two golds among them.
All this makes Stoch Poland's second most decorated ski jumper in history, narrowly trailing only behind Adam Małysz - as well as one of the discipline's true legends on a global scale.
At the age of 39, however, Kamil Stoch decided that enough is enough - and over the weekend he concluded his illustrious career with a season-ending ski flying competition in Slovenia's Planica, where in 2017 he made the longest jump in his life - 251.5 meters. This time the retiring Polish great took 8th place with the team, as well as 38th and 30th in the individual competitions.
Kamil's wife, Ewa, gave the starting signal for his final career jump on Sunday, symbolically guiding him home. Stoch jumped 190 meters to the deafening cheers of the assembled fans - 30,000 of whom had gathered on the sold-out hill (and some more watched from behind the fence), with Poles constituting the second-largest group after the home crowd.
After Stoch's jump, there was a planned break in the competition. When he landed, the Pole threw away his skis and bowed low to the crowd. Teammates Piotr Żyła and Dawid Kubacki took him on their shoulders, accompanied by younger competitors Aleksander Zniszczoł and Klemens Joniak, all wearing bibs bearing the image and name of the retiring champion. Stoch then walked under a guard of honor formed by skis.
When the competition concluded, Stoch was once again invited to the landing area. Another photo session followed, this time with officials, coaches, and people associated with his club, Eve-nement Ski Jumping Team Zakopane. The President of the Polish Ski Association and Stoch's great predecessor, Adam Małysz, presented the retiring champion with an award donated by the association and one of its sponsors – a 16-destination trip around the World for Kamil and his wife.
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Source: IAR, PAP