After Stefan Horngacher worked as head coach of the Polish ski jumpers between 2016 and 2019, the Austrian has now returned to the Polish Ski Association as training coordinator. However, the 56-year-old’s comeback was extremely difficult, as not all PZN officials were convinced of the ex-national coach of the DSV Adler. Apparently a compromise followed, which did not go down well with Adam Małysz.
Stefan Horngacher’s return to the Polish Ski Association has been certain for a few weeks now. Adam Małysz, ski jumping legend and president of the Polish association, now explained new background to the very complicated comeback, which the PZN board had initially blocked. Only after a long back and forth did the association finally decide to give the green light for the return.
“There was a moment when I lost hope. That depressed me a little and strengthened my conviction that I should not apply for another term as president,” Małysz revealed to “Polsat” and explained: “I was always of the opinion that the board should form a unit. When I spoke to Stefan, there was a clear demand that the entire board had to agree.”
However, this turned out to be a problem because a member of the PZN board set a very special condition. “In fact, at the beginning it was the case that one of the board members said that he would only accept this decision if national coach Maciej Maciusiak was in favor of it,” the ski jumping icon from Wisla further revealed in the conversation with the TV station.
Ski jumping: Stefan Horngacher “ready and without fear”
There is said to have been a lot of tension between Poland and Austria during Horngacher’s tenure as national coach. Nevertheless, the 44-year-old ultimately raised his fingers to make Horngacher’s return perfect. Contrary to what Małysz wanted, the ex-national coach, who worked as the DSV-Adler’s trainer between 2019 and 2026, was not given a multi-year contract.
“The conditions were initially negotiated for a year. Stefan agreed to this. This shows how firmly he believes in success. Originally, clear rules and four years were supposed to apply, but he still decided to stay with the project. This shows that he is ready and is not afraid,” said the 48-year-old, who believes the PZN approach is a mistake.
He is of the opinion “that nothing can be achieved in a year. According to my idea, the project should cover four years of cooperation, from Olympic to Olympic. The idea was to further develop and build the system, but also to introduce more and more young athletes like Kacper Tomasiak to the World Cup,” Małysz explained his doubts.
