Jens Weißflog


Jens Weißflog is a German former ski jumper. He is one of the best and most successful ski jumper in the history of the sport. Only Finns Matti Nykänen and Janne Ahonen, Poles Adam Małysz and Kamil Stoch and Austrian Gregor Schlierenzauer have won more World Cup victories.

Career

Weißflog was born in Erlabrunn in the Erzgebirge range.
As a 19-year-old he won the Four Hills Tournament for East Germany in 1983/84. Weißflog was known as "Floh" due to his slight stature and his light body. That same winter he won the combined World Cup and later the normal hill event at the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo. The following winter was dominated by Weißflog and the outstanding Finn Matti Nykänen.
The most remarkable part of his career is that he competed at the top level for twelve years. Neither the regime change from East Germany to the unified Germany in late 1990, nor the change in ski jumping techniques from the parallel technique to the V-style around 1993 stopped his success. In 1994 he won two gold medals in the individual large hill and team large hill events at the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, ten years after his first Olympic victory. He finished his career in 1996 by becoming the first ski jumper to win the combined Four Hills Tournament four times. Only the Finn Janne Ahonen has surpassed that record by winning the Four Hills Tournament five times. He had also earned five-second-place finishes in the competition over the course of his career. After this achievement he retired from professional sport.
At the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships, Weißflog won two golds in the individual normal hill, three silvers in the individual large hill and team large hill, and four bronzes in the individual large hill and team large hill. He also won two medals at the FIS Ski Flying World Championships with a silver in 1985 and a bronze in 1990.
Weißflog also won the ski jumping competition at the Holmenkollen ski festival twice. He was awarded the Holmenkollen medal in 1991.
Today, Jens Weißflog owns a hotel in his home town of Oberwiesenthal and is the main ski jump commentator for German television station ZDF.

World Cup

Standings

Wins