Kamil Stoch

Kamil Wiktor Stoch (Polish pronunciation: [ˈkamil stɔx]; born 25 May 1987) is a Polish 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 consecutive), 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 announced that he intends to retire after the 2025-26 season.

Personal life

Kamil Stoch was born in Zakopane, Poland, to Krystyna and Bronisław Stoch and raised in Ząb near Zakopane. He has two older sisters – Anna (born 1983) and Natalia (born 1985). In 2006 he graduated from the School of Sports Championships in Zakopane. In 2012 he graduated the University School of Physical Education in Krakow with master's degree in physical education (MPhEd). On 7 August 2010 he married Ewa Bilan.

Career

He was three years old when he started skiing for the first time. 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. Initially, he trained in the sport of Nordic combined.