It was another tough day for the Polish athletes, as they found themselves propping up the standings in the Nordic combined, speed skating and figure skating

Szczepan Kupczak and Andrzej Szczechowicz were the representatives for Poland in the individual Gundersen large hill / 10km, finishing 35^th and 45^th, respectively. The Nordic combined, is a competition across two disciplines, ski jumping and cross-country skiing. Last week, the athletes competed on the normal hill followed by a 10km cross-country race. This time around they jumped from the large hill before embarking on the 10km pursuit.

Kupczak jumped into 30^th place with a distance of 121.5 metres and 86.3 points, whilst Szczechowicz achieved a disappointing 93 metres, leaving him in 45^th with 44.6 points. The points accrued from the ski jump determine the starting intervals for the cross-country stage of the competition, effectively turning the race into a pursuit, where the first person who crosses the line is crowned Olympic champion.

Kupczak and Szczechowicz started the 10km race with a 3:34 and 6:21 deficit each, giving them an impossible task to achieve a top 10 finish, never mind a podium position. That margin increased over the course of the race as Kupczak crossed the line 35^th with a time of 31:59.8 – 4:46.5 behind the winner – whilst Szczechowicz held his place but finished with a greater deficit of 8:35.2 in a final time of 35:40.5.

The disappointment with their performance was shared by the Natalia Czerwonka, Magdalena Czyszczoń and Karolina Bosiek who finished 8^th in the women’s team pursuit. The speed skaters lost to Belarus by two seconds in the D final of the competition. Poland – who had aspirations of competing further up the standings – were 10 seconds behind Olympic champions Canada. This will be another difficult result to take, following a tumultuous time in Beijing with Covid-19 isolation and preparation disrupted.

A philosophical Bosiek told TVP Sport, “We have to accept everything that happened,” whilst. Czerwonka – who was at her 4^th Olympics – added “these weren’t the Games I was expecting. I hope that in the not too distant future I will understand the purpose behind the experiences we have had here, and what the aim behind it was. I’m sure we’ll learn from this and come back stronger.”

Elsewhere on the ice, at the Capital Indoor Stadium, figure skater Ekaterina Kurakova competed in the women single skating – short program. Whilst this event has been dominated by the story of Russian Olympic Committee athlete Kamila Valieva, whose inclusion has caused controversy following a failed drugs test, Kurakova was not able to make the competition her own.

Dancing to Tchaikovsky’s Sentimental Waltz, the 19 year old made an error at the beginning of her routine, failing to complete a required combination of moves in her first jump. She was able to adjust her performance and rectify her mistake, but was marked down for the error leaving her in 24^th place, sneaking through qualification to the free skating stage of the competition on Thursday.