Łukasz Kruczek

Łukasz Kruczek
Full name	Łukasz Paweł Kruczek
Born	(1975-11-01)1 November 1975 Buczkowice,Poland
Ski club	AZS-AWF Katowice
Personal best	186 m (610 ft) Planica,2001
World Cup career
Seasons	1994–2003
Medal record Men'sski jumping RepresentingPoland Universiade 1997 Muju Individual NH 1999 Poprad Individual NH 2001 Zakopane Individual NH 2001 Zakopane Individual NH 2003 Tarvisio Team
Updated on 20 February 2014.

Łukasz Paweł Kruczek(born 1 November 1975) is a Polish formerski jumper.He represented Poland at the1998 Winter OlympicsinNagano,and is a four-time gold medalist atUniversiade.From 2008 till 2016 he has been the coach of the Polish national ski jumping team. Since 2016 he is the coach of the Italian national ski jumping team

Personal life

Łukasz Kruczek was born inBuczkowice,Poland. He graduated from the Academy of Physical Education inKraków.He has a wife Agata. They have three children - daughter Anna and two sons - Michał and Kacper. He is fluent in three languages: English, German and Russian.

Ski jumping career

Kruczek started ski jumping when was 6 years old. His first club was LKS Klimczok Bystra. Until 1994 he practiced Nordic combined. He was Polish Junior Champion in Nordic combined three times. He resigned from the Nordic combined, because it was not a popular sport inPoland.He debuted in ski jumpingWorld Cupin 1996 inZakopane.Kruczek's best finish at theFIS Nordic World Ski Championshipswas 32nd in the individual large hill event atRamsauin1999.He finished 46th at the 1996Ski-flying World ChampionshipsinBad Mitterndorf.He was at theOlympic Games 2002inSalt Lake City,but did not start in any competition. He won four gold medals at the Universiade individually (1997, 1999, 2001) and one bronze with the team (2003). Kruczek's best World Cup career finish was 14th at a large hill event inFinlandin 1999. He ended his career as a ski jumper after season 2002/2003.

Kruczek inOslo,2011

Coaching career

His career as a coach began when he wasHeinz Kuttin's assistant (for two seasons). Then Kruczek worked withHannu Lepistö.On March 28, 2008 he began working as coach of Polish national ski jumping team A.He was awarded the Silver Cross of Merit in 2010. His first successes as coach were Kamil Stoch's podium places in theWorld Cupin 2011. Polish team had a bad start to the season 2012/2013. Łukasz Kruczek was criticized and considered his expulsion from work. At that time,Kamil Stochpublicly supported the coach.At theWorld Championships 2013in Val di Fiemme his wardKamil Stochbecame World Champion individually on the large hill, and the Polish team -Maciej Kot,Kamil Stoch,Piotr ŻyłaandDawid Kubackiwon bronze medal. Since then his jumpers occupy high positions in the World Cup and Summer Grand Prix.During his work as a trainer has 5 different Polish jumpers (Adam Małysz,Kamil Stoch,Jan Ziobro,Krzysztof BiegunandPiotr Żyła) was winning the World Cup competitions. In the season 2013/2014 Stoch is the leader of the World Cup. In 2014 Kamil Stoch was a double gold medalist at theOlympic Games 2014inSochi,Polish team was 4th. Kruczek led the Polish team for the best results at the Olympic Games in history.

External links

• Łukasz KruczekatOlympedia
• Łukasz KruczekatOlympics.com
• Łukasz Kruczekat OlympicChannel.com (archived)
• Łukasz Kruczekat Olympic.org (archived)
• Łukasz Kruczekat thePolski Komitet Olimpijski(archive)(in Polish)