Big surprise. We know the Polish line-up for the team competition in Zakopane
After Friday’s qualifications, Thomas Thurnbichler announced the Polish squad for Saturday’s team competition. Interestingly, Piotr Żyła is not on the list.
On Friday, Piotr Żyła did not look good. His training jumps didn’t quite work out, and there wasn’t much improvement in qualifying either. Thomas Thurnbichler decided not to include him in the squad for the team competition. In the past, there were situations where even in the case of bad attempts in training, Żyła received a place in the team. He was practically an inseparable part of it. But now we’re in for a surprise. Poland will be represented on Saturday by: Kamil Stoch, Paweł Wąsek, Aleksander Zniszczoł and Dawid Kubacki.
Thurnbichler chose between Żyła and Zniszczoł
Finally, we learned about the Poles’ lineup for Saturday’s competition from the announcement of the Polish Ski Association. Several minutes earlier, national team coach Thomas Thurnbichler gave an interview on Eurosport. He mentioned three certainties there: Dawid Kubacki, Kamil Stoch and Paweł Wąsek. When it came to the fourth place, the Austrian had to think longer.
He had no doubt that Aleksander Zniszczoł jumped better than Piotr Żyła during the day, indicating that the latter had a big problem with the inrun position. This, in turn, translated into distances. Ultimately, Żyła finished 30th in the qualifications, and his rival was classified three positions lower, but apparently it was the training that tipped the balance in favor of the younger jumper. It is also visible that Zniszczoł and the previously mentioned Wąsek are players who have recorded progress recently, hence the coach decided that it was worth giving them a chance in the team.
Poland hasn’t had so many rivals for a long time
Let us remind you that as many as 13 teams are scheduled to take part in Saturday’s team competition. There has been no such situation for 10 years, when 14 teams started in Klingenthal.
In the past, the Polish national team won the team competition in Zakopane once, and this took place in 2018. We added five second places and were on the lowest step of the podium twice. Now it will be extremely difficult to get into the top three. We can only hope that great support will carry the white and red team as far as possible. Jumping starts at 4:00 p.m.
