Jan Kula

Jan Kula
nation	Poland
birthday	February 2, 1922
place of birth	Zakopane ,  Poland
size	163 cm
Weight	65 kg
date of death	April 6, 1995
Place of death	Zakopane, Poland
Career
discipline	Nordic combined ski jumping
society	Wisła Zakopane (1934–1937) SN PTT Zakopane (1938–1950) WKS Zakopane (1950–1960)
National squad	since 1939
End of career	1960
Medal table
National Medals (SP) 2 × 4 × 2 × National Medals (NK) 0 × 1 × 2 ×
Polish championships silver 1939 Zakopane Single SP gold 1947 Zakopane Single SP silver 1948 Karpacz Single SP bronze 1949 Szczyrk Single SP gold 1950 Zakopane Single SP bronze 1952 Zakopane Single SP silver 1953 Szczyrk Single SP silver 1954 Wisła Single SP  Polish championships bronze 1950 Zakopane Single NK silver 1951 Zakopane Single NK bronze 1952 Zakopane Single NK
Placements Four Hills Tournament 36th ( 1956/57 )

Jan Kula (born February 2, 1922 in Zakopane , † April 6, 1995 ibid) was a Polish Nordic skier . He became Polish ski jumping champion in 1947 and 1950 . In addition, Kula was a soldier in the western campaign during World War II .

Career

Kula, who began his sports training at Wisła Zakopane , switched to SN PTT Zakopane in 1938 , where he had the best ski jumpers in the country as training partners with Bronisław Czech and the Marusarz brothers Stanisław and Andrzej . The following year the World Championships took place in his hometown Zakopane, in which he participated as the youngest athlete in his discipline at the age of seventeen. After jumps on 75.0 and 74.0 meters, he took eleventh place and was second-best pole. The competition was held at the same time as the Polish championship , with which Kula won his first national medal.

After the attack on Poland, Kula reported to the army and in the following years fought, among other things, against the western campaign of the German Wehrmacht . After the campaign he was interned in Switzerland and again took part in ski jumping competitions.

In 1946 Kula returned to Poland and continued his sports career. At the international ski week in 1947 in Chamonix , France , Kula took sixth place in the jumping competition and a short time later won his first championship title from Wielka Krokiew in Zakopane . At the Olympic Winter Games in St. Moritz in 1948 , he finished 33rd under difficult conditions. After the dissolution of his association SN PTT, Kula joined the WKS Zakopane association and won his second gold medal at national championships at the first championship after the change.

Between 1947 and 1954 he won the Czech Marusarzówna Memorial ski jumping competition in Zakopane five times and was thus able to establish himself at the top of Polish ski jumping. In addition, Kula also took part in the Polish championships in Nordic combined , where he was able to achieve his best result in 1951 with second place behind Józef Daniel Krzeptowski .

1956/57 Kula took part in the fifth edition of the Four Hills Tournament, where he finished 36th in the overall standings. After losing touch with the best Polish ski jumpers, Kula ended his career in 1960 at the age of 38. As an international ski judge, however, he remained connected to the sport.

In the course of his life Kula was honored several times. He was awarded the Order of Polonia Restituta and the French Croix de guerre , among others . Because of his athletic achievements, he was also awarded the title " Honored Master of Sports ". After his death in 1995, Kula was buried in the New Cemetery in Zakopane .

statistics

winter Olympics

• 1948 St. Moritz : 33rd individual

World championships

• 1939 Zakopane : 11th individual

Four Hills Tournament placements

season	space	Points
1956/57	36.	538.4

Web links

Commons : Jan Kula  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Jan Kula in the database of the International Ski Federation (English) - Ski jumping
• January Kula on Olympic.org  - The Official website of the Olympic movement (English)
• January Kula in the database of Olympedia.org (English)
• Portrait at the Polish Olympic Committee (Polish)
• Portrait on skijumping.pl (Polish)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} Wojciech Szatkowski: Poczet skoczków polskich: Jan Kula - Esteta skoków narciarskich ... In: skijumping.pl. January 25, 2006, accessed March 14, 2019 (Polish). 
2. ^ Portrait at the Polish Olympic Committee , accessed on March 14, 2019 (Polish).
3. ^ Total status of the Four Hills Tournament 1956/57. In: berkutschi.com. Retrieved March 14, 2019 .