For a ski jumper, the cycle of success includes, in addition to a powerful jump in the right tenth of a second, the right equipment, a feeling for the air and unstoppable self-confidence. When this mix is present, flights take off, landings are late and performance is excellent. Phillip Raimund from Göppingen is currently in such a cycle of success.
And how: After four podium finishes in nine World Cup events, he is the best German and is fourth overall in this series. What Raimund is still missing is a first win on snow. “But it will come,” says national coach Stefan Horngacher before the ski jumpers’ next stop in Engelberg, Switzerland, this weekend. The dress rehearsal for the Four Hills Tournament, which begins on December 29th in Oberstdorf, will take place there.
Waiting for the first victory – that requires patience. But it was precisely this calmness that the 25-year-old Raimund hardly had before this season. A year ago in Engelberg he was so desperate that he quickly changed his skis before the competition, which is extremely daring in a sensitive sport like ski jumping without extensive testing. But Raimund didn’t make any progress beforehand; he wanted to take a risk because it wasn’t certain that he would permanently reach the second round of the best 30 jumpers.
View into Planica
However, the measure did not work consistently, Raimund finished the last World Cup season in 24th place despite two fifth places towards the end of the season. He skipped the last competition weekend at the end of March 2025 in Planica; two ski flying competitions were scheduled in the Slovenian Valley of the Ski Jumps. But Raimund decided against it with an astonishing reason: fear of heights.
“I normally have it under control and it’s not a problem with ski jumping,” Raimund said on Instagram nine months ago. Every now and then, and only when ski flying, his body reacts. Flying hills are much larger than facilities for ski jumpers, the run-up and aviation are longer and the distances are larger. Sometimes Raimund’s inner self resists this challenge. If it’s like that in Planica, he’d rather not compete.
But again: A ski jumper with a fear of heights? Isn’t it like a footballer having a phobia of the ball? “Of course I have it under control in 95 percent of my jumps,” explained Raimund. And now he has “worked well with someone, so I’ve got it under control.” This “someone” is a mental coach with whom Raimund “attacked” the roots of an insecurity that had crept in, as he explains.
These now apparently cut roots seem to be doing him good. At the Summer Grand Prix, Raimund was the best after eleven competitions, not all of which he competed in. He even won a competition in Hinzenbach. “I felt a certain amount of consistency in the summer. That was really good,” says Raimund.
mats and material
The reasons for Raimund’s current upswing have to do with the confidence he has built up on mats and the material that suits him. After the Norwegian scandal over manipulated jumpers’ suits, the garments are now cut tighter. “That played into my hands because it supports people who, like me, have a strong take-off,” says Raimund. In addition, he has developed further as a personality. The concrete insight from this process: “I have become more relaxed. I was a lot nervous at the beginning of my career.” And noticeable impatience.
There were previously phases in Raimund’s career “when I didn’t care about a lot of things, probably a little too much.” He went through a process during which he became aware of how he could shake off other people’s expectations of him “and what stops I had to pull out in order to be able to switch off at home.” Specifically: “Men have the opportunity to not think about anything. I’m very good at that.”
Above all, however, he worked out with his mental trainer “that I have a repertoire that I can rely on. I have my toolbox, which includes the hammer, and that, in a figurative sense, is my jumping ability. And so on.” His jumping power is actually amazing, from a standing position he can reach 69 centimeters without lifting his knees. This ability catapults him so much into the air after the jump when ski jumping that great distances are possible.
Horngacher has long since noticed a change in Raimund’s personality, as an athlete and as a person: “He is more mature, clearer and more stable in the things he has to do in order to jump well. And he has lost a bit of his euphoria, which doesn’t necessarily hurt.” This euphoria – that was his visible excitement in many areas in the preseason.
Raimund knows that with his current package of top results and the corresponding self-confidence he will be one of the favorites at the Four Hills Tournament. But with his new objectivity he says: “If I can use my system day after day and recover well, it will work well at all events.”
