Jens Weißflog

Jens Weißflog
Country  East Germany (1980-90)
 Germany (1990-1996)
Born (1964-07-21) 21 July 1964
Erlabrunn, East Germany
Height 1.70 m (5 ft 7 in)
Personal best 201 m (659 ft)
Kulm, Feb 1996
World Cup career
Seasons 1981
19831996
Individual wins 33
Team wins 1
Indiv. podiums 73
Team podiums 6
Yellow bibs 20
Indiv. starts 191
Team starts 9
Overall titles 1 (1984)
Four Hills titles 4 (1984, 1985, 1991, 1996)
Updated on 10 February 2016.

Jens Weißflog (born 21 July 1964) is an East German/German former ski jumper. He is the most successful German ski jumper of all time. Only Finns Matti Nykänen and Janne Ahonen, Pole Adam Małysz and Austrian Gregor Schlierenzauer have won more World Cup victories.

Career

Weißflog was born in Erlabrunn (now a part of Breitenbrunn, Saxony) 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" (flea in German) 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 (1985, 1989), three silvers in the individual large hill (1989) and team large hill (1984 and 1995), and four bronzes in the individual large hill (1991, 1993) and team large hill (1985 and 1991). 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 (1989, 1990). He was awarded the Holmenkollen medal in 1991 (shared with Vegard Ulvang, Trond Einar Elden, and Ernst Vettori).

Today, Jens Weißflog owns a hotel in his home town of Oberwiesenthal and is the main ski jump pundit for German television station ZDF.

World Cup

Standings

Season Overall SF JP 4H
1980/81 N/A N/A 110
1982/83 16 N/A N/A 2nd
1983/84 1st N/A N/A 1st
1984/85 4 N/A N/A 1st
1985/86 16 N/A N/A 22
1986/87 11 N/A N/A 7
1987/88 6 N/A N/A 2nd
1988/89 2nd N/A N/A 2nd
1989/90 6 N/A N/A 3rd
1990/91 8 19 N/A 1st
1991/92 38 N/A 39
1992/93 11 N/A 3rd
1993/94 2nd N/A 2nd
1994/95 6 14 N/A 12
1995/96 4 8 4 1st

Wins

No. Season Date Place Hill Size
1 1982/83 6 January 1983 Austria Bischofshofen Paul-Ausserleitner-Schanze K109 LH
2 1983/84 1 January 1984 West Germany Garmisch-Partenkirchen Große Olympiaschanze K107 LH
3 4 January 1984 Austria Innsbruck Bergiselschanze K106 LH
4 6 January 1984 Austria Bischofshofen Paul-Ausserleitner-Schanze K111 LH
5 11 January 1984 Italy Cortina d’Ampezzo Trampolino Italia K92 NH
6 15 January 1984 Czechoslovakia Liberec Ještěd A K115 LH
7 12 February 1984 Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Sarajevo Igman K90 NH
8 24 March 1984 Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Planica Srednja Bloudkova K90 NH
9 1984/85 1 January 1985 West Germany Garmisch-Partenkirchen Große Olympiaschanze K107 LH
10 17 February 1985 Switzerland Engelberg Gross-Titlis-Schanze K120 LH
11 1986/87 6 December 1986 Canada Thunder Bay Big Thunder K89 NH
12 1987/88 24 January 1988 Switzerland Engelberg Gross-Titlis-Schanze K120 LH
13 1988/89 22 January 1989 East Germany Oberhof Rennsteigschanze K90 NH
14 5 March 1989 Norway Oslo Holmenkollbakken K105 LH
15 8 March 1989 Sweden Örnsköldsvik Paradiskullen K82 NH
16 25 March 1989 Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Planica Srednja Bloudkova K90 NH
17 26 March 1989 Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Planica Bloudkova velikanka K120 LH
18 1989/90 17 December 1989 Japan Sapporo Ōkurayama K115 LH
19 1 January 1990 Germany Garmisch-Partenkirchen Große Olympiaschanze K107 LH
20 17 January 1990 Poland Zakopane Wielka Krokiew K116 LH
21 1990/91 30 December 1990 Germany Oberstdorf Schattenbergschanze K115 LH
22 1 January 1991 Germany Garmisch-Partenkirchen Große Olympiaschanze K107 LH
23 1993/94 12 December 1993 Slovenia Planica Bloudkova velikanka K120 LH
24 14 December 1993 Italy Predazzo Trampolino dal Ben K90 (night) NH
25 30 December 1993 Germany Oberstdorf Schattenbergschanze K115 LH
26 22 January 1994 Japan Sapporo Miyanomori K90 NH
27 23 January 1994 Japan Sapporo Ōkurayama K115 LH
28 5 March 1994 Finland Lahti Salpausselkä K90 NH
29 27 March 1994 Canada Thunder Bay Big Thunder K90 NH
30 1994/95 29 January 1995 Finland Lahti Salpausselkä K114 LH
31 1995/96 6 January 1996 Austria Bischofshofen Paul-Ausserleitner-Schanze K120 LH
32 20 January 1996 Japan Sapporo Miyanomori K90 NH
33 17 February 1996 United States Iron Mountain Pine Mountain K120 LH

References

Awards
Preceded by
Uwe Hohn
East German Sportsman of the Year
1985
Succeeded by
Olaf Ludwig
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