Polish athletes have so far won four medals at the 25th Winter Olympic Games Milan–Cortina 2026: three in ski jumping and one in speed skating. Sixty Polish competitors took part in the Games in Italy, and many athletes finished among the very top in their events. Jagna Marczułajtis-Walczak, a Member of the European Parliament and a former Olympian, says the results confirm the potential of Polish winter sports—despite constraints in funding and the development of these disciplines at home.
A good example of equipment-related challenges in winter sports is the performance of Poland’s lugers at the Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo Games. The Polish doubles team finished sixth in the Olympics while racing on sleds that have been in use for many years, whereas the leading teams competed on modern equipment.
“Polish sport—especially winter sports—is underfunded. But funding alone is not the key issue. It’s also about the fact that training should start from the earliest years. If someone wants to become an Olympic champion in a given discipline, they have to begin very early. In alpine skiing, which I practiced for half of my sporting life, and in snowboarding, you have to start young and go through the entire process. It doesn’t happen overnight—you can’t simply get on a board at the age of 20 and become an Olympic champion,” Marczułajtis-Walczak told Newseria. She represents the Civic Coalition in the European Parliament and is a three-time Winter Olympian.
In its “Strategy for the Development of Skiing and Snowboarding 2023–2030,” the Polish Ski Association points out that the athlete development process is significantly affected by financial and infrastructure barriers. It highlights, among other issues, rising costs of specialized equipment, expenses related to preparing coaching staff, and limited access to training facilities.
Winter sports are disciplines that require a long, multi-year training pathway. Athlete development typically begins in childhood and includes successive stages of sporting growth—technical training, physical conditioning, and participation in domestic and international competition. Building sporting potential should start as early as primary education.
“We should have physical education in grades 1–3 taught by qualified PE coaches, not by early-education teachers. That would certainly change something. Every report in Poland shows that our youth are poorly prepared physically—children are obese, they can’t jump or run, not to mention forward rolls or handstands. These are basic skills that school-age children should be learning,” Marczułajtis-Walczak argues.
One factor that can increase interest in physical activity and sport is large-scale international sporting events. Hosting the Olympic Games could serve not only a promotional function for a country, but also influence social attitudes toward sport. In a Visa survey, 43% of respondents said the Olympic and Paralympic Games had inspired them in the past to practice winter sports, and 88% stated that this year’s event would motivate more people to become active. Nine out of ten respondents see a positive impact of the Milan–Cortina Games on the European winter sports industry, and a similar share believe the event will support local businesses.
The idea of hosting the Winter Olympics had also been analysed in Poland. As a member of the Polish parliament in 2012, Marczułajtis-Walczak, together with Professor Szymon Krasicki from the University of Physical Education in Kraków, prepared the concept “Kraków – Winter Olympic Games 2022.” The event was to be co-hosted by Poland and Slovakia. However, Kraków’s bid for the 2022 Winter Olympics collapsed after a referendum among the city’s residents.
Meanwhile, the Polish government has confirmed preparations for a bid to host the Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2040 or 2044.
“In my view, an Olympics project is a good idea—not only for promoting Poland, but also for developing and rebuilding a ‘fashion’ for sport in our country, and for promoting movement among children and young people, starting in primary schools. This is what Poland lacks. When people have dreams about the Winter Olympics or about hosting the Summer Olympics, it may make them more willing to get moving, to play more sport—and that will translate into better health and mental wellbeing for children and young people,” the former Olympian says.
At the same time, Polish winter sport has also been gradually developing new training facilities in recent years. One example is the opening of the indoor speed skating rink in Tomaszów Mazowiecki, which has enabled year-round preparation. At the 25th Winter Olympic Games Milan–Cortina 2026, Polish speed skaters were among the front-runners, with medal positions decided by differences measured in hundredths of a second.
In winter sports, technical infrastructure and suitable terrain conditions are among the basic organizational requirements—both for training and for international competition.
“We don’t have slopes that meet the requirements for staging, for example, women’s or men’s downhill. When we were bidding, Slovakia had such slopes. The requirements and course homologations also change, so such a project would have to be prepared again from scratch. As for the Summer Olympics, they would probably have to be spread across the country, because it would be difficult to build all venues from scratch. It would more likely be a model of using existing facilities or building temporary ones that would be dismantled after the Games,” Marczułajtis-Walczak says.
