As the multiple World Cup champion, Olympic medallist, record-breaker and all-round ski-jumping legend Adam Malysz takes his final bow this weekend, we take a look back at ten great moments from his astonishing career.
The Polish Eagle's first few years in the world of ski jumping were far from successful - he finished a lowly 51st in the 1994-95 FIS World Cup and 57th in the 1997 World Cup - but his rise to legendary status began in the 2000/01 season when he won the Four Hills Tournament and the World Championship in individual normal hill. He then capped off a great year by finishing second in individual large hill.
2002 also saw Małysz heading off to Salt Lake City for the Winter Olympic Games. He swiftly made his mark on the international circuit by claiming silver in individual large hill and bronze in individual normal hill.
In 2003, the gold kept rolling in as Adam won both World Championship titles and added yet another Ski Jumping World Cup to his collection - at this point he had amassed three World Cups in as many years, an unprecedented achievement.
Just when his fans thought Adam couldn’t possibly outdo his astonishing record, four years later in 2007, he grabbed himself a streak of wins at the end of the season, including the World Championship - his fourth such title, which saw him equalling Matti Nykänen's world record.
Nobody in their right mind would envy the person who has to polish Adam’s trophy extensive collection. One such section is particularly weighed down with medals from the Holmenkollen ski festival, as he’s the athlete to ever win the event five times in total - 1996, 2001, 2003, 2006 and 2007.
When he’s not clogging up his home in Wisla, southern Poland, with gongs, Adam’s filling the record books with his achievements. Most recently in 2010, he jumped the furthest a Polish ski jumper has ever jumped (meaning he smashed his own record) with a phenomenal distance of 230.5m in World Cup Ski Flying - a competition where pure distance matters more than technique in the judging.
In 2010, Malysz was still getting recognition on a worldwide scale as he bettered his 2002 Winter Olympics showing with a silver medal in individual normal hill (upping the ante on his previous bronze) and another silver in the individual large hill.It’s not just the highs that have defined Adam’s career, as his dogmatic attitude in the face of adversity has often proved. Earlier this year, he suffered a bad crash recently in Zakopane that saw him whisked to hospital by air ambulance. Before long though, he was already back on the hill and taking seventh place at a FIS event in Klingenthal, Germany, despite still suffering from his injuries. In fact, he soon returned to the scene of his accident and quashed his demons with a victory.
(c) Red Bull Photofiles
The 33-year-old, 17-time Polish champion has now officially announced that he’ll hang up his skis for good on March 26, but that doesn’t mean he won’t chance his arm at some new challenges in the future. “I hope in 10 years’ time I'll still be engaged in sports,” said Adam when he recently spoke to Red Bull. “Maybe not ski jumping any more but something that will give me a lot of pleasure and health. I hope I won't have changed and I'll still be myself - cheerful, truly optimistic and a happy person. I'll be 10 years older - but also more experienced.” If he shows just a soupcon of the aptitude he displayed throughout his glorious ski-jumping career, we’re in no doubt that the trophy cabinet will be needing a few extra shelves.
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