The Polish woman’s personal best on the last day of the games! Great fight to the end

Sunday (i.e. February 22) is the last day of competition in the 2026 Winter Olympics. Few people could have expected that Eliza Rucka-Michałek’s start in the 50 km race would bring so many emotions. That is, a “royal” clash, for definitely the strongest in the world.

Eliza Rucka-Michałek with a great start! What a fight at the end of the Olympics

The Pole from Istebna (born in 2000) made her Olympic debut on the Apennine Peninsula. Poland has a running tradition mainly due to the great Justyna Kowalczyk-Tekieli. And the great champion had the opportunity to comment on the start of the much younger Rucka-Michałek on Eurosport. Needless to say, my heart grew stronger watching the overambitious Polish woman’s fight until the last kilometers of the route.

Rucka-Michałek was chasing the best skiers of the day for a long time. This trick was a success, because on the last loop the Pole reached the group that was fighting directly for the bronze medal. Unfortunately, at the very finish she ran out of strength, which is understandable, because the Polish skier had to pay for her great pursuit of the best.

Ultimately, however, Rucka-Michałek reached the finish line as the eighth competitor of the 2026 Winter Olympics over a distance of 50 km. Taking into account that the day before, Dominik Bury was 12th over the same distance, we can talk about a really great closing of the Games by Polish cross-country skiing. And let this be a good omen for the future – that it is worth investing in this beautiful part of winter sport.

Winter Winter 2026: Four Olympic medals for the Polish team

The Games on the Apennine Peninsula were quite successful for the Polish team. Looking at the medal achievements, this is the best performance of the Olympic team in red and white colors in over 12 years.

Medals for the Polish national team during the 2026 Winter Olympics were won mainly by ski jumpers. One of them, a 19-year-old Olympic debutant – Kacper Tomasiak – won three of them. The leader of coach Maciej Maciusiak’s team was silver on the normal hill, bronze on the large hill in Predazzo and again the Olympic vice-champion in the duet competition. In the latter case, Paweł Wąsek formed a two-person team with Tomasiak.

We also cannot forget about the first medal for Polish men at the Winter Olympics since 2014. Vladimir Semirunniy reached for it. “Władek” became the Olympic vice-champion in the 10 km distance.

In its history of participation in the Winter Olympics, the Polish team has won a total of 27 medals – seven gold, ten 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.

Speaking of history, another special story happened during Winter Olympics 2026. Namely, Klaudia Adamek was the first in the history of Polish Olympism to take part in both the summer and winter games. A former athlete and participant of the Olympic Games in Tokyo (2021) in the 4×100 meters relay, she completed the Olympic set by starting in Italy (2026) in the bobsled doubles.