Piotr Żyła was born in Cieszyn, Poland. He graduated Sports Championships School in Zakopane, where his classmate was Kamil Stoch. In 2006 he married Justyna Lazar, who is Adam Małysz's cousin. Piotr and Justyna have two children: son Jakub and daughter Karolina. In November 2018 they divorced.
Career
2006/2007
Żyła jumped on skis for the first time when he was eight years old. On December 26, 2004 he debuted in the Continental Cup at St. Moritz. The first points in this series were won on January 14, 2005 in Sapporo, when he was 19th. At the World Junior Championships he was 14th, while the team won the silver medal. On January 21 in Sapporo, he got a chance to debut in the World Cup. In his first start, he scored points. A day later, again, the last time in the season, he was in the top 30. On February 4 he won the Continental Cup in Villach. In the 2006/2007 season he scored points in the World Cup four times. The highest place was the 19th in Titisee-Neustadt. He started well in the world championships. In the individual competition, he was 35th and 42nd. In the team competition, the Polish team was 5th.
2007/2008
In the season 2007/2008 he scored points just in Zakopane, Poland. He was 29th twice.
2010/2011
Training with coach Jan Szturc at the club meant that he attained better results in the Continental Cup. On January 21 in Zakopane was 21st and he repeated this result on February 13 at the ski flying hill in Vikersund. On January 29, 2011 he stood on the podium in the team competition in Willingen. He also starred in the World Championships. He finished at 19th and 21st place individually, and fourth and fifth in team.
2011/2012
In the season 2011/2012 Żyła returned to the team A. In the general classification beginning the summer season competitions Lotus Poland Tour finished on last – 57th place. In the event of the Summer Grand Prix 2011 in Hakuba finished on second place twice. On September 17 at Wielka Krokiew has won the bronze medal in Polish Championship, after jumping a distance of 126.5 m and 118.5 m. After taking 4th place in the Summer Grand Prix in Klingenthal he had the fifth position in the general classification of the Summer Grand Prix 2011.
2012/2013
On December 4, 2011 for the first time he was ranked in the top 10. He was 7th in Lillehammer. He started in the World Cup Ski Flying in Vikersund. Individually he was 33rd, Polish team took 7th place. On January 26, 2013 he became the Polish record holder in the length of the ski flight. In the season 2012/2013 the first World Cup points scored until the seventh start, taking 30th place in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. On January 9, 2013 in Wisla took 6th place. He repeated this result in Vikersund on January 26 and February 13 in Klingenthal. In individual competitions at FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 2013 took 23 place on the normal hill and 19th on the large hill. On March 2, 2013 he won there a bronze medal in team competition with teammates: Kamil Stoch, Maciej Kot, Dawid Kubacki. The primary outcome of the competition his team took fourth place, but after re-counting the scores because of Thomas Morgenstern, who noticed a mistake in points and at the request of the Germans, they finished in third place. On March 17, 2013 annually ex aequo with Gregor Schlierenzauer won the World Cup in Oslo. It was his first podium of his career. He was the fifth in the history of Polish ski jumper after Stanisław Bobak, Piotr Fijas, Adam Małysz and Kamil Stoch, who won the World Cup competition. A week later, the penultimate competition of the season ranked third in the ski flying hill in Planica.
2014/2015
He took part in the World Championships 2015 in Falun, Sweden. He was 33rd on normal hill and 9th in the competition on the large hill Lugnet. On February 28, 2015 Polish team in squad: Żyła, Kamil Stoch, Klemens Murańka and Jan Ziobro achieved bronze medal of World Championships 2015 in team. For Żyła, this was the second bronze of World Championships in team. .
2016/2017
On December 3, 2016 Polish national team including Żyła, Stoch, Kubacki and Kot won first competition in team for Poland in history. Żyła took part in 2016–17 Four Hills Tournament and finished 2nd in overall rankings, losing only to Stoch. In Zakopane Polish team, including Stoch, Kubacki, Kot, Żyła achieved second place in team competition. On January 28, 2017 Poland won their second team competition in history in Willingen. On March 4, 2017 Polish national team, including Żyła, Kubacki, Kot and Stoch, achieved first in history title of 2017 World Champions in team event. They beat Norway and Austria at Salpausselkä K116 in Lahti, Finland.
2017/2018
On January 21, 2018 coach Horngacher officially appointed Żyła to 2018 Winter Olympics. In the last competition before the Olympic Games, Żyła took 3rd place behind Stoch and Forfang. It was his fourth individual podium in career. Despite his presence on 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, he had the weakest results from Polish team in trainings before both competitions on normal and large hills. Therefore, he was not in any competition and in the team that won the bronze medal.
