Polish woman with a personal best! This is how you should fight at the Olympics
Maryna Gąsienica-Daniel took 7th place in the giant slalom at the Winter Olympics 2026. The Pole achieved her life’s success, the best in her career on Olympic routes.
The Pole missed the podium by exactly 0.12 seconds. This shows how tight it was during Sunday’s competition on the giant slalom route in Winter Olympics 2026.
While Maryna Gąsienica-Daniel’s first morning run was not yet ideal for the game for the most important places, in the second one the Pole already gave everything she had the best. The effect was astonishing, because from place number 13, the Polish representative made it to the top ten of the Olympic competition.
WINTER 2026: Maryna Gąsienica-Daniel with her personal best! 0.12 seconds from the medal
The Pole came to Italy with a personal best of 8th place in the giant slalom. As she admitted, she wanted to fight for an Olympic medal at the 2026 Winter Olympics. As it ultimately turned out, there was very little to be happy about. Almost as much as speed skater Damian Żurek had to get on the podium.
The Pole took 7th place in the final classification. This is her best result in her career, looking at her Olympic starts.
It is worth adding that Poland has never won a Olympic Games medal in its history. The best result in history was the performance of Andrzej Bachleda-Curus in 1968, during the Winter Winter Olympics in Grenoble. Then it ended in fourth place.
Speaking of women, the highest in the history of Polish alpine starts was Małgorzata Tlałka, with the sixth result in slalom during the 2019 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo (1984).
2026 Games in Italy. Where and when to watch the Poles’ starts?
The Polish national team during the opening games consists of 60 athletes. In the 21st century, there has never been a time when a Polish woman or a Pole was not on the Olympic podium during the Winter Olympics. During the last winter games, Poland finished the competition with one medal. The bronze medal was won by ski jumper Dawid Kubacki in the normal hill competition.
It is already known that Kubacki’s result was beaten at the Winter Olympics 2026 by a debutant among Olympians – Kacper Tomasiak. The 19-year-old great talent won a silver medal in the normal hill competition and a bronze medal in the large hill competition in Predazzo.
Another Olympic runner-up, Vladimir Semirunni, who made his debut at the Winter Olympics, was also runner-up in the 10 km speed skating race.
In the history of the Olympic Games, the Polish national team has won a total of 26 medals – seven gold, nine silver and ten bronze, respectively. Interestingly, the first bronze medal for Poland was won by Franciszek Gąsienica-Groń (Nordic combined) almost exactly 70 years ago, during the Olympic Games in… Cortina d’Ampezzo. This year, history has come full circle in a beautiful Italian-Polish Olympic circle.
Broadcasts from Winter Olympics 2026 in Poland are provided by Telewizja Polska (TVP) and the Discovery group (Eurosport). The event will last until Sunday, February 22.
