The German Olympic ski jump winner with a fear of heights

It’s the kind of story that only the Olympic Games seem to produce: A talented ski jumper, who had yet to win anything of significance, delivers the performance of his life to win Olympic gold.

“I don’t know how I did it. But I’m so, so proud that I managed to do it,” Philipp Raimund told German public television moments after his his gold medal triumph in Predazzo, Italy.

“Now I’m simply an Olympic champion. Not having won a single World Cup (race) and then to be standing on the top step of the biggest stage, it’s unbelievable.”

Even harder to grasp is that the 25-year-old, who regularly launches himself from the top of dizzying ski jumps, also happens to suffer from a fear of heights.

Following his older brother

Raimund was born in 2000 in the southwestern town of Göppingen. He and his older brother Fabian started ski jumping as children.

“When I was almost five years old and watched my brother, there was no doubt in my mind: I’m going to be a ski jumper!” Philipp, nicknamed “Hille” Raimund, wrote on his website.

In 2005 and 2011, the family of six twice moved further south, eventually settling in the ski-jumping hotbed Oberstdorf. The two brothers needed larger jumps and more intensive training, and their father, Christian Raimund, got a job as a ski jumping coach at the Olympic training center.

His son Philipp initially tried his hand at Nordic combined, a sport that combines ski jumping and cross-country skiing.

“After a while, however, I threw my (cross-country ski) poles down into the snow and declared that I never wanted to torture myself like that again,” Raimund said of his decision to concentrate on ski jumping. If only it weren’t for his fear of heights.

‘Something gets a tight grip on me’

To combat the problem, the ski jumper worked with a mental coach. He can usually handle his fear of heights, Raimund says, “but from time to time I do have a problem (mainly during ski flying). My body takes over and I can’t control it. For about a second and a half, it’s like I am just observing myself while something has a tight grip on me.”

So, at the end of the 2024-25 season, Raimund didn’t compete in the Ski Flying World Cup on the Planica hill in Slovenia, known for its exceptionally long jumps. Slovenian Domen Prevc would set a new world record of 254.5 meters there.

Normal hills, like the one in the Olympic town of Predazzo, feature jumps of only around 110 meters. This suits Raimund much better.

Only quiet when nervous

Outwardly, the ski jumper appears anything but anxious or withdrawn.

“Hille is a really funny and lively guy, I’d even say an extrovert. He’s extremely unpretentious,” teammate Karl Geiger once said.

“When I’m really nervous, I’m quiet. I might not speak for three hours,” Raimund himself has noted.

Coach Stefan Horngacher had to get used to Raimund’s manner at first.

“We’ve had some real arguments. Things got heated,” the Austrian recalled.

“But I get along really well with him now. He’s a really nice person and an incredible athlete.”

‘Incredible technique’

But that alone isn’t enough to become an Olympic champion. Horngacher describes Raimund as “extremely athletic. He has incredible technique that very few people can execute.”

Nevertheless, in recent years Raimund has seldom managed to translate his immense talent into success. He rarely stood on the top step of the podium — and when he did, it was only in the team competition.

The fact that he celebrated his first major individual victory at the Olympics is a minor miracle.

“Unbelievable,” as Philipp Raimund himself puts it.

This article was originally published in German.