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Kamil Stoch

Polish ski jumper (born 1987)

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Kamil Wiktor Stoch (Polish pronunciation: [ˈkamil stɔx]; born 25 May 1987) is a Polish former ski jumper. He is one of the most successful ski jumpers in the history of the sport, having won two World Cup titles, three Four Hills Tournaments (two of them consecutively), three individual gold medals at the Winter Olympics, individual and team gold at the Ski Jumping World Championships, and individual silver at the Ski Flying World Championships. His other tournament wins include Raw Air (twice), the Willingen Five, and Planica7.

Stoch is among only three ski jumpers in history, alongside Sven Hannawald and Ryoyu Kobayashi, to win the "grand slam" of all four competitions in a single Four Hills Tournament. In 2018, at age 30, Stoch became the oldest individual Olympic gold medallist and World Cup titlist in the history of ski jumping. He was voted Polish Sports Personality of the Year in 2014 and 2017. Stoch retired at the end of the 2025-26 season.

Stoch was born in Zakopane and raised in nearby Ząb. He has two older sisters. In 2006, he graduated from the School of Sports Championships in Zakopane. In 2012, he graduated from the University School of Physical Education in Krakow with a master's degree in physical education (MPhEd). On 7 August 2010, he married Ewa Bilan.

He was three years old when he first started skiing. A year later, he started ski jumping. When he was six years old, he received his first ski-jumping skis from his uncle. He joined the club ŁKS Ząb as an eight-year-old boy, where his first coach was Mirosław Małuda. He initially trained in the sport of Nordic combined.

At the 2006 Ski-flying World Championships in Kulm, Stoch finished 9th in the team event and 35th in the individual event. He competed at his first Olympics in 2006, in Turin, Italy. Having qualified for the finals in the normal hill and large hill, he finished 16th and 26th, respectively. He also qualified for the team competition (large hill), where Poland placed 5th.

Stoch won the Polish Championship in 2007. At the 2007 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships in Sapporo, Stoch finished 5th in the team large hill and 11th in the individual normal hill. He also won a World Cup Summer Grand Prix competition in Oberhof in 2007.

In 2008, Stoch was 6th in the individual world cup in Val di Fiemme. In 2009, he was 4th in individual World Championship in Liberec on the normal hill.

At the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, the Polish ski jumping team was led by Adam Małysz (who would win the silver medal in both individual events). Stoch again qualified for the finals in all three events, finishing 27th in the Normal hill and 14th in the Large hill, while the Polish team placed sixth in the team competition. Stoch won a 2010 Summer World Cup competition in Wisła and 2011 World Cup events in Zakopane (rescheduled from Harrachov), Klingenthal, and Planica.

On 23 January 2011, on Wielka Krokiew in Zakopane, Poland, he won a World Cup competition for the first time in his career. It was his first time on the podium in this series. He became the fourth Polish ski jumper, after Stanisław Bobak, Piotr Fijas, and Adam Małysz, to win a World Cup competition.

A week later, the team competition, held annually in Willingen with jumps devoted to distance 139 m and 130 m, contributed to gaining third place for the Polish team. On 2 February 2011, he won second World Cup competition in Klingenthal, Germany. On 22 February 2011, he won the third title of Polish Champion in Szczyrk, where he jumped twice at 101.5 m. During World Cup in Lahti, Finland, he gained third place with the team again. The season 2010/2011 ended in Planica, Slovenia, where for the third time in the history of Polish ski jumping – two ski jumpers were on the podium together. On 20 March 2011, Stoch won third in his career World Cup competition, and Adam Małysz was third. A day earlier, during a trial run before the competition team, Stoch set his new personal record and landed at 226 m. The Polish national team was ranked third place in the Nations Cup. Stoch ended the season in 10th place in the general individual classification.

On 26 December 2011, Wisła Malinka, Poland, held Polish Championship. In the first series, Stoch jumped 123.5 m. In the second, he jumped 136 meters, which set a new record and also won him the gold medal.

On 20 January 2012 was held the first of two World Cup competitions in Zakopane. After the jump on a distance of 125.5 m in the first series held the second position. On the other hand, he jumped 135 m, the longest distance in the competition. The second series gave Stoch a fourth career victory, the second in Zakopane.

In the first competition in Predazzo, after the landings at 123.5 mi 126 m, peaked at 7th place, with a loss of 4.2 points to the podium. In both series, he jumped in adverse wind conditions. The next day of the competition on Trampolino dal Ben he jumped a distance of 125,5 mi 131.5 m, which gave him the victory before Gregor Schlierenzauer and Anders Bardal. This moved him up to fourth place in the overall standings, ahead of Thomas Morgenstern.

Season 2011/2012 graduated on the best in his career – fifth place in the overall World Cup with the acquis 1078 points and a loss of 247 points to the winner of the Crystal Ball – Anders Bardal. This season, Stoch was on the podium seven times – twice victorious, second twice and third three times. The classification of flights was sixth, which was also his best result. He lost 162 points to the best aviator season – Robert Kranjec, but he stood on the podium one contest flight – was third in Tauplitz.

On 25 January 2013, he became the joint holder of the Polish ski flying distance record (tying the mark held by Piotr Żyła) with a jump of 232.5 metres.

In the first competition in Val di Fiemme during the 2013 Ski Jumping World Championships, Stoch earned the highest score in the trial before the contest, jumping to 103 m in the first round competition, jumped a distance of 102 m and was ranked second place, losing 2.8 points to the leader – Anders Bardal. The second series reached 97 m, with a weak landing and fell to eighth place. Stoch, in post-competition interviews, stated that he is very unhappy with the obtained result – despite the relaxation made a mistake during the jump.

On 28 February 2013, achieved the title of World Champion 2013. In the first series of the competition, he showed the longest jump of 131.5 m and earned high marks for style, including the "20" from the Swiss judge. He was the leader after the first round. In the final series, like most of the top competitors, he competed with reduced at the request of the coach – the nineteenth beam. Stoch jumped 130 m, again without providing any judicial note below "19" and won the gold medal with 6.1 points more than Peter Prevc, but about 6.7 from the third Anders Jacobsen. Immediately after the competition, Stoch and Prevc were threatened with disqualification for image suits. This provision was to be introduced the day before; ultimately, the judges rejected the anonymous protest. Stoch won the gold a day later in Cavalese. He won the title of World Champion in Val di Fiemme – exactly ten years after winning the first title of World Champion by Adam Małysz. On 2 March 2013, Stoch participated in the team competition on the large hill, which was submitted to the fourth group of players. Before his first attempt, Poland was classified in fifth place. Makes a stroke on the 134-meter and, after the first round, Poland took fourth place, losing five points to the third Germans. The second started at the request of head coach Łukasz Kruczek, with a reduction of two positions beams and reached 130 meters. The Polish team, consisting of Stoch and his teammates Dawid Kubacki, Piotr Żyła and Maciej Kot, won a bronze medal in the team competition. The Polish team originally took fourth place, but after recounting the scores because of Thomas Morgenstern, who noticed a mistake in points and at the request of the Germans, they finished in third place (The Norwegian team was originally in front of the Polish team, but Anders Bardal's jump was badly counted).

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