After the announcement of Stefan Horngacher’s commitment, the Polish ski jumping association PZN has now clearly defined what role the former national coach will take on. One thing is clear: the Austrian should not take the head coaches’ jobs away.
Stefan Horngacher returns to the Polish national ski jumping team as training coordinator after working as head coach in the neighboring country between 2016 and 2019. It had long been speculated that the 56-year-old could take on a coaching position again – but Horngacher’s tasks are clearly defined.
Wojciech Topór, head coach of the B team, made this more than clear in an interview with “WP SportoweFakty”: “The situation is clear. The A and B teams have head coaches. We have the final say.”
Nevertheless, Topór emphasized that the experienced ski jumping instructor was valued and respected. “So we will of course take his advice into account.”
Horngacher supports in the Continental Cup
However, Horngacher’s work during the season “will not significantly affect him. It will only help me and make things easier. We have already had preliminary discussions and Stefan is ready to support us in some Continental Cup competitions,” revealed Topór. Horngacher has already started working for the Polish association and planning for the training camps and preparation is underway.
According to his own statement, Topór had no “concerns” about signing the long-time national coach: “If anything, it was only that it wouldn’t work out and Stefan wouldn’t come to Poland.”
The senior national team will continue to be looked after by Maciej Maciusiak. PZN board member Wojciech Adam Fickowski recently denied that Stefan Horngacher had been hired as a shadow coach when asked by “Interia”: “Of course not. We are fully behind Maciek Maciusiak, for me that is a question from the field of science fiction.”
