What a great story, via OSV News:
At the 2026 Winter Olympic Games, Polish ski jumper Kacper Tomasiak made history — and then went to Mass.
The 19-year-old captured two silver medals and a bronze, becoming Poland’s first ski jumper to win three medals at a single Winter Olympics. But instead of a flashy celebration, Tomasiak asked for a thanksgiving Eucharist, placing his medals on the altar in gratitude to God.
In Poland, a nation watching his rise as a winter sports star, it’s not only victory that defines him, but the foundation beneath every jump — his faith.
The teenage ski jumper stunned the international winter sports community with a groundbreaking performance at the Milan Cortina Games, winning three medals — two silvers in the individual and team events with Pawel Wasek, which took place Feb. 9 and Feb. 16, respectively, and a bronze in the individual large ski jump competition Feb. 14 — becoming the first Polish ski jumper to win three medals at a single Olympic Games.
His rapid rise immediately attracted commentators and fellow athletes, but beyond his records and athletic precision, Tomasiak’s sign of the cross before each jump has drawn nearly as much attention.
After winning his first silver medal, Tomasiak reflected on his performance with humility — which is, his friends say, his normal trait. “I don’t really know how I did it. I jumped well. Maybe not perfect, but very well. I’m definitely a bit tired after all of it, but I’m also very happy. This is the happiest day of my sporting life,” he said shortly after the event, according to Polish sports magazine Przeglad Sportowy.
For Father Edward Plen, a longtime Olympic chaplain of Polish athletes, that gesture reflects something deeply authentic.
“Kacper came to me and said it would be good to thank God for these medals,” Father Plen told OSV News. “He came, and I must say it was a Mass full of gratitude to God and for Kacper,” Father Plen said. “It was very moving. I said that the most beautiful thanksgiving for a medal is when the medals are placed on the altar and during the elevation — God himself comes to that altar, and looks not only at those medals, but above all at Kacper’s beautiful, pure heart.”
