Yevhen Marusyak: a rising star in high jumping who has shattered all of Ukraine's records.

However, everything changed with Yevhen Marusyak. At just 24 years old, he has already rewritten all possible records in Ukrainian ski jumping with an impressive margin. He made his mark on the international ski jumping scene during the full-scale war in Ukraine. Not even the dreadful state of the jumping infrastructure, funding issues, or the war in his home country could prevent this Ukrainian star from shining in the most popular winter sport in Europe.

Marusyak has become a true phenomenon in the world of ski jumping, garnering attention and admiration not only in Ukraine but also far beyond its borders. Today, we will introduce you to one of the most intriguing talents of the new generation of jumpers. Yevhen himself will assist us in this as he shared his career and life journey in an exclusive interview with the Champion.

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Marusyak was born on March 16, 2000, in the village of Kryvorivnia in the Ivano-Frankivsk region, just 8 km from the district center of Verkhovyna, which hosts one of the largest ski jumping complexes in Ukraine. Despite this, Yevhen did not get into ski jumping right away:

The journey from his first steps in this sport to his very first jumps off the ramp is quite significant:

The development of ski jumping in Verkhovyna currently relies not on state funding but on the enthusiasm of local coaches and concerned sponsors who provide financial support:

However, Verkhovyna only allowed Yevhen to take his initial steps in ski jumping. For further progress, training needed to take place at the largest ski jumping complex in Ukraine, located in Vorokhta. The local facilities enabled Marusyak to take the next step in his development.

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Nevertheless, the condition of the ramps in Vorokhta is also far from ideal. Therefore, now that Yevhen has reached a very high international level, he has to avoid training in Vorokhta. The majority of his training takes place abroad, primarily in Poland or Slovenia.

Despite the fact that the state of ski jumping infrastructure in Ukraine remains frankly poor, Marusyak acknowledges that the situation regarding state funding has significantly improved over the past few years. This, in particular, allows for regular training camps abroad.

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Many young boys start engaging in sports for fun, but only a few reach a professional level. Marusyak admits that he cannot recall the exact moment when he began to perceive ski jumping as his life's work:

Marusyak has had the fortune to compete against many outstanding jumpers. Yevhen shared who he looks up to and considers his idols:

Marusyak's journey to his current heights has not been easy. He made his international debut at the age of 14 at a FIS Cup stage (the third tier of world ski jumping) in Štrbské Pleso, Slovakia. A year later, he debuted in the Continental Cup in Bischofshofen, Austria.

He had to wait quite a while for his debut in the World Cup, which finally happened in November 2019 at a stage in Wisła, Poland. Interestingly, at that time, Yevhen had already participated in the 2019 World Championships in Seefeld and Innsbruck, where he did not qualify for either of his two individual starts. He struggled for a long time to break through the qualification wall at the elite level – it wasn't until January 2021 in Zakopane that Marusyak finally qualified for the main events of the World Cup.

In 2022, Yevhen went to his first Olympics. In Beijing, the Ukrainian qualified for both individual starts, but qualifying for World Championships and the Olympics is generally easier than for regular World Cup stages due to shorter quotas for top teams. Overall, for several years, Yevhen's performances showed little progress – it seemed as if he had hit a ceiling and didn't know what to do next.

However, ski jumping is a very unpredictable and illogical sport. Few athletes have careers that develop in a linear and gradual manner. Stars can rise and fall suddenly and unexpectedly.

This was the case for Marusyak as well. Nothing hinted at his sudden breakthrough to a qualitatively new level, but it happened on January 29, 2023. A Sunday that forever changed Yevhen's life. The Ukrainian made it to the second attempt in the flying stage of the World Cup in Bad Mitterndorf, Austria. Ultimately, he finished in 26th place and brought Ukraine its first World Cup points in 13 years, while also breaking the national record for flight distance – 210 meters.

While the jumper's breakthrough to a new level was sudden and unexpected for outsiders, it does not mean that there weren't objective and logical factors behind it. In Marusyak's case, this factor was Jani Debelak. Before the 2022/23 season, the Slovenian coach, who previously led the Kazakhstan team, began working with the Ukrainian jumpers – initially as a consultant, assisting the head coach, Volodymyr Boshchuk.

However, over time, Debelak's involvement with the Ukrainian team grew, and he now holds the position of head coach. According to Marusyak, it was the arrival of the Slovenian specialist and his fresh perspective that allowed for this qualitative leap:

The success in Bad Mitterndorf turned out to be neither a one-time occurrence nor a coincidence. After a less successful World Cup stage in Willingen, Marusyak headed to the Continental Cup in another German location, Klingenthal. And there, he astonished everyone once again. In Saturday's event, Yevhen finished in 7th place – the second-best result in Ukraine's history at a second-tier tournament. Then on Sunday, Marusyak secured a brilliant victory, outpacing his nearest rival, Swiss Remo Imhof, by 17.2 points, equivalent to 9.5 meters in distance.

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This was followed by a 28th place finish at the World Cup stage in Râșnov, Romania, and an outstanding performance at the World Championships in Planica. On the large hill, Yevhen placed 27th, and a few days earlier, he impressed on the normal 90-meter hill. In the second attempt, Marusyak surged from 29th to 17th place and even briefly held the hill record.

The season concluded, as usual, on the giant hill in Planica. There, Yevhen once again made history for Ukrainian ski jumping. A flight of 213.5 meters allowed him to break the national record once more and finish in 18th place. Marusyak ended the winter campaign in 54th place in the overall World Cup standings with 21 points to his name. This marked the best achievement in Ukraine's history, which Yevhen is bound to surpass again.

Marusyak began the new season at the end of June, finishing 33rd and 13th at the European Games in Krakow, where the jumping events took place in Zakopane. Following that, he consistently earned points in the Summer Grand Prix and Continental Cup. However, the first half of the winter season, like the previous year, was once again weak. Yevhen occasionally delivered very good jumps, but they mainly occurred during qualification rounds: 18th in Lillehammer, 26th at the Four Hills Tournament stage in Innsbruck.

The first entry into the top 30 had to wait until the end of January when the World Championships in ski flying took place in Bad Mitterndorf. The leader of the Ukrainian team finished in 27th place. At the World Cup, he had to wait another month for his first points of the season – until the end of February, when the flying stage occurred in Oberstdorf, Germany.

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In March, during the Norwegian multi-day event Raw Air, Marusyak finally scored points in the World Cup for the first time on the 120-meter hill – finishing 25th in Trondheim, at the arena of the upcoming World Championships in 2025.

The Raw Air event concluded with another flying stage in Vikersund. And on the giant hill, Yevhen once again fully revealed his potential. In the qualification, he achieved an impressive 12th result with a flight of 223 meters (a new Ukrainian record), but due to adverse weather conditions, the main competition could not be held on Saturday.

There were concerns that the Ukrainian might lose a great opportunity to showcase a high result, but on Sunday morning, the competition took place, albeit only in one attempt. A jump of 216.5 meters saw Marusyak finish in 11th place, which remains his personal best in the World Cup to this day.

Yevhen did not stop there. At the season finale in Planica, he accomplished something incredible. In the qualification, the Ukrainian leapt to 228