While Poland’s golden generation of ski jumpers, featuring Kamil Stoch, Dawid Kubacki, and Piotr Żyła, gradually steps into retirement, Kacper Tomasiak emerges as the great future hope for the proud ski jumping nation. Some experts already see the 19-year-old as the next Stoch or Adam Małysz, but his camp wants nothing to do with such comparisons.
Kacper Tomasiak came from nowhere to become Poland’s beacon of hope at the Olympic Winter Games in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo. The youngster claimed silver on the normal hill and in the super team event, along with bronze on the large hill, giving an otherwise disastrous Polish season a bearable finish.
Tomasiak still has a long way to go to match three-time Olympic champion Kamil Stoch or four-time overall World Cup winner Adam Małysz, yet comparisons with these legends have already begun. His father is far from pleased.
“I’ll say this: Kamil himself told Kacper and other young jumpers that everyone writes their own story. There is no second Stoch or Małysz. And if you ask Kacper about his idols, there isn’t a single one,” Wojciech Tomasiak, who represents his son, told Interia, quickly shutting down any comparisons with icons.
His son “learns something from everyone. He doesn’t pay attention to names, but to what personally suits him. In my opinion, every jumper has his own unique technique. Everyone is different.”
Wojciech Tomasiak also explained why his son couldn’t maintain his top-level performances in the World Cup after the Olympics.
“I think he showed consistently good performances throughout the season, reaching his best form at the Olympic Games. Of course, everyone compared his results with those from the Olympics and expected more, but they forgot that this was Kacper’s first season, and the Olympics were not only a huge success for him but also a major event,” Wojciech Tomasiak said. “In a short time, a lot happened, and new responsibilities came. It was simply too much.”
The Polish youngster will return “refreshed and with a clear head” next winter.