It’s the kind of Olympic tale that seems almost impossible: a gifted ski jumper who had never claimed a major individual win suddenly produces the performance of his life and takes 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 standing atop the podium 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 more surprising is that the 25-year-old, who regularly launches himself off towering ramps, lives with a fear of heights.
Following his older brother
Raimund was born in 2000 in Göppingen. He and his older brother Fabian began 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” — wrote on his website.
The family moved twice, in 2005 and 2011, eventually settling in Oberstdorf, a hub for ski jumping, so the brothers could train on larger hills. Their father, Christian Raimund, took a job as a ski jumping coach at the Olympic training center.
Philipp first tried Nordic combined, which pairs ski jumping with cross-country skiing, but he quickly decided to focus solely on ski jumping. “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,” he said — despite his fear of heights.
“Something gets a tight grip on me”
Raimund has worked with a mental coach to manage his acrophobia. He says he can usually cope, but at times — especially in ski flying — his body overrides his control. “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,” he explains.
Because of that, at the end of the 2024-25 season Raimund skipped the Ski Flying World Cup in Planica, Slovenia, a venue known for extremely long flights where Slovenian Domen Prevc set a new world record of 254.5 meters. Raimund prefers normal hills like the one in Predazzo, which are closer to 110 meters and suit him better.
Only quiet when nervous
Outwardly, Raimund comes across as lively and sociable. “Hille is a really funny and lively guy, I’d even say an extrovert. He’s extremely unpretentious,” teammate Karl Geiger has said. Raimund himself admits that when he’s truly nervous he becomes unusually quiet. “When I’m really nervous, I’m quiet. I might not speak for three hours,” he noted.
Coach Stefan Horngacher remembers early clashes with Raimund. “We’ve had some real arguments. Things got heated,” the Austrian said, adding that they’ve come to a good understanding. “He’s a really nice person and an incredible athlete.”
“Incredible technique”
Horngacher praises Raimund’s athleticism and technical ability. “He has incredible technique that very few people can execute,” the coach said. Yet until his Olympic victory, Raimund struggled to convert talent into individual wins, rarely topping podiums except in team events. That makes his first major individual title at the Olympics all the more remarkable.
“Unbelievable,” as Raimund himself put it.
This article was originally published in German.