After seven years in Germany as a national ski jumping coach, Stefan Horngacher returned to Poland as a training coordinator. The Austrian is strengthening the coaching staff there, and also deals with other issues such as financial support and the promotion of young talents. The star of the filming, Kacper Tomasiak, talks in an interview about his first impressions.
“It’s definitely a little different because the work is mostly done in English rather than Polish,” Polish ski jumper Kacper Tomasiak told WP SportoweFakty and added: “Stefan understands Polish well and can also speak a little bit, so there’s no language barrier, but it’s a little different from previous years and it takes some getting used to.”
Horngacher already worked as coach of the Polish national team between 2016 and 2019. The Austrian then moved to Germany for seven years. The collaboration culminated with Philippe Raymond winning a gold medal at the 2026 Winter Olympics. But it was clear to the 26-year-old that Germany’s ski jumping elite needed a breath of fresh air.
Ski jumping: “A completely new role for Horngacher”
Then the experienced coach returned to Poland. “We tried to create a kind of interface between the coach and the athletic director. This is a fairly new role and we haven’t even found a suitable name for it yet, so now we call it “coordinator” because I coordinate a lot of things,” Horngacher recently explained his role on the website Skijumping.pl.
But Horngacher also takes on the role of coach and gives athletes advice and support during training. “I think I’ve gotten used to the job and it’s moving in the right direction,” Tomasiak continued about working with Horngacher. The former national team coach must ensure that things get back on track for the proud ski jumping nation.
Tomasiak only celebrated his World Championship debut in November last year. At the Winter Olympics, he won silver on the normal hill and as part of the super team. Bronze also came from a large hill. These were the only successes of the Poles during the mixed winter.