Kamil Wiktor Stoch (; 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 Sportspersonality of the Year in 2014 and 2017.
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.
At the 2006 Ski-flying World Championships in Kulm, Stoch finished 9th in the team event and 35th in the individual event. He competed at his first Olympics in 2006, in Turin, Italy. Having qualified for the finals in the normal hill and large Hill, he finished 16th and 26th, respectively. He also qualified for the team competition (large hill), where Poland placed 5th.
Stoch won the Polish Championship in 2007. At the 2007 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships in Sapporo, Stoch finished 5th in the team large hill and 11th in the individual normal hill. He also won a World Cup Summer Grand Prix competition in Oberhof in 2007.
In 2008, Stoch was 6th in the individual world cup in Val di Fiemme. In 2009, he was 4th in individual World Championship in Liberec on the normal hill.
2009/2010
At the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, the Polish ski jumping team was led by Adam Małysz (who would win the silver medal in both individual events). Stoch again qualified for the finals in all three events, finishing 27th in the Normal hill and 14th in the Large hill, while the Polish team placed sixth in the team competition. Stoch won a 2010 Summer World Cup competition in Wisła and 2011 World Cup events in Zakopane (rescheduled from Harrachov), Klingenthal, and Planica.
2010/2011
On 23 January 2011 on Wielka Krokiew in Zakopane, Poland – he won a World Cup competition for the first time in his career. It was the first time on the podium in this series. He was the fourth Polish ski jumper after Stanisław Bobak, Piotr Fijas and Adam Małysz, who won a World Cup competition.
A week later, the team competition, held annually in Willingen with jumps devoted to distance 139 m and 130 m, contributed to gaining third place for the Polish team. On 2 February 2011, he won second World Cup competition in Klingenthal, Germany. On 22 February 2011, he won the third title of Polish Champion in Szczyrk, where he jumped twice at 101.5 m. During World Cup in Lahti, Finland, he gains third place with the team again. The season 2010/2011 ended in Planica, Slovenia, where third time in the history of Polish ski jumping – two ski jumpers were on the podium together. On 20 March 2011, Stoch won third in his career World Cup competition, and Adam Małysz was third. A day earlier, during a trial run before the competition team, Stoch set his new personal record and landed at 226 m. The Polish national team was ranked third place in the Nations Cup. Kamil Stoch ended the season in 10th place in the general individual classification.
2011/2012
On 26 December 2011, Wisła Malinka, Poland, held Polish Championship. In the first series, Stoch jumped 123.5 m. In the second, he jumped 136 meters, which set a new record object, and won the gold medal.