Martin Schmitt

Personal information

Full name

Martin Schmitt

Born

29 January 1978 (age 34)
Villingen-Schwenningen, Germany

Professional information

Club

SC Furtwangen

Skis

Elan

World Cup

Seasons

1997–

Wins

Additional podiums

Total podiums

Medal record

Men's ski jumping
Competitor for Germany
Olympic Games
Gold	2002 Salt Lake City	Team large hill
Silver	1998 Nagano	Team large hill
Silver	2010 Vancouver	Team large hill
FIS Nordic World Ski Championships
Gold	1999 Ramsau	Team large hill
Gold	1999 Ramsau	Individual large hill
Gold	2001 Lahti	Individual large hill
Gold	2001 Lahti	Team large hill
Silver	2001 Lahti	Individual normal hill
Silver	2005 Oberstdorf	Team normal hill
Silver	2009 Liberec	Individual large hill
Bronze	1997 Trondheim	Team large hill
Bronze	2001 Lahti	Team normal hill
Bronze	2011 Oslo	Team normal hill

Updated on
January 16, 2008.

Martin Schmitt (born 29 January 1978 in Villingen-Schwenningen, Baden-Württemberg) is one of Germany's most successful ski jumpers. Beginning his competitive career at the Furtwangen area skiing club in Germany, his and Sven Hannawald's successes made their sport one of the most popular in the country. With particular help from cable TV station RTL, they received great acclaim.

Successes

Schmitt's first great success came when, as a schoolboy at the Furtwangen ski boarding school, he achieved a bronze medal in the 1997 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships in Trondheim. The following season, he won the team large hill silver at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano.

In 1998/99 Schmitt won the team World Cup for the first time and triumphed at the 1999 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships in Ramsau by winning the individual and team large hill events. He defended his success at the World Cup 1999/2000.

Schmitt enjoyed particular world success in skijumping between 1999 and 2001. With 28 world cup successes (10 in the 1998/99 season, 11 in 1999/2000, 6 in 2000/01, and 1 in 2001/02), he finished sixth in the world rankings behind Matti Nykänen (46 victories), Adam Małysz (39 victories), Janne Ahonen (36 victories), Gregor Schlierenzauer (35 victories) and Jens Weißflog (33 victories). At the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships, he won eight medals (including four gold), and at the Winter Olympics he won two silver medals and one gold medal.

He had his best season in 2000/2001 by finishing second behind Adam Małysz for the World Cup title. At the 2001 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships in Lahti, he won both the individual and team large hills. In addition he gained a silver medal in the individual normal hill and a bronze in the team normal hill. Consequently, he became the first ski jumper to win four medals at the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships.

After the 2001 season, Schmitt began to suffer from injuries, and could no longer equal his earlier successes. Nonetheless, in the 2001/2002 season he won another team gold at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, as well as winning silver in the WC at Harrachov. His last world cup success was on 1 March 2002 in Lahti.

After many back injuries in the 2004-5 season, he did not take part in the World Cup for many weeks, in order that he could be better prepared for the 2005 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships in Oberstdorf. There he won a silver medal in the team normal hill. Schmitt returned to win a silver in the individual large hill event at the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 2009 in Liberec.

References

Martin Schmitt at the International Ski Federation

Olympic champions in men's ski jumping team large hill

1988: Finland (Ari-Pekka Nikkola, Matti Nykänen, Tuomo Ylipulli, & Jari Puikkonen) * 1992: Finland (Ari-Pekka Nikkola, Mika Laitinen, Risto Laakkonen, & Toni Nieminen) * 1994: Germany (Hansjörg Jäkle, Christof Duffner, Dieter Thoma, & Jens Weißflog) * 1998: Japan (Takanobu Okabe, Hiroya Saito, Masahiko Harada, & Kazuyoshi Funaki) * 2002: Germany (Sven Hannawald, Stephan Hocke, Michael Uhrmann, & Martin Schmitt) * 2006: Austria (Andreas Widhölzl, Andreas Kofler, Martin Koch, & Thomas Morgenstern) * 2010: Austria (Wolfgang Loitzl, Andreas Kofler, Thomas Morgenstern, & Gregor Schlierenzauer)

World champions in ski jumping individual large hill

1925: Willen Dick (TCH) • 1926: Jacob Tullin Thams (NOR) • 1927: Tore Edman (SWE) • 1929: Sigmund Ruud (NOR) • 1930: Gunnar Andersen (NOR) • 1931: Birger Ruud (NOR) • 1933: Marcel Reymond (SUI) • 1934: Kristian Johansson (NOR) • 1935: Birger Ruud (NOR) • 1937: Birger Ruud (NOR) • 1938: Asbjørn Ruud (NOR) • 1939: Josef Bradl (GER)
World War II
1950: Hans Bjørnstad (NOR) • 1954: Matti Pietikäinen (FIN) • 1958: Juhani Kärkinen (FIN) • 1962: Helmut Recknagel (GDR) • 1966: Bjørn Wirkola (NOR) • 1970: Gariy Napalkov (URS) • 1974: Hans-Georg Aschenbach (GDR) • 1978: Tapio Räisänen (FIN) • 1982: Matti Nykänen (FIN) • 1985: Per Bergerud (NOR) • 1987: Andreas Felder (AUT) • 1989: Jari Puikkonen (FIN) • 1991: Franci Petek (YUG) • 1993: Espen Bredesen (NOR) • 1995: Tommy Ingebrigtsen (NOR) • 1997: Masahiko Harada (JPN) • 1999: Martin Schmitt (GER) • 2001: Martin Schmitt (GER) • 2003: Adam Małysz (POL) • 2005: Janne Ahonen (FIN) • 2007: Simon Ammann (SUI) • 2009: Andreas Küttel (SUI) • 2011: Gregor Schlierenzauer (AUT)

World champions in men's ski jumping team large hill

1982: Norway (Johan Sætre, Per Bergerud, Ole Bremseth & Olav Hansson) * 1984: Finland (Markku Pusenius, Pentti Kokkonen, Jari Puikkonen & Matti Nykänen) * 1985: Finland (Tuomo Ylipulli, Pentti Kokkonen, Matti Nykänen & Jari Puikkonen) * 1987: Finland (Matti Nykänen, Ari-Pekka Nikkola, Tuomo Ylipulli & Pekka Suorsa) * 1989: Finland (Ari-Pekka Nikkola, Jari Puikkonen, Matti Nykänen & Risto Laakkonen) * 1991: Austria (Heinz Kuttin, Ernst Vettori Stefan Horngacher & Andreas Felder) * 1993: Norway (Bjørn Myrbakken, Helge Brendryen, Øyvind Berg & Espen Bredesen) * 1995: Finland (Jani Soininen, Janne Ahonen, Mika Laitinen & Ari-Pekka Nikkola) * 1997: Finland (Ari-Pekka Nikkola, Jani Soininen, Mika Laitinen & Janne Ahonen) * 1999: Germany (Sven Hannawald, Christof Duffner, Dieter Thoma & Martin Schmitt) * 2001: Germany (Sven Hannawald, Michael Uhrmann, Alexander Herr & Martin Schmitt) * 2003: Finland (Janne Ahonen, Tami Kiuru, Arttu Lappi & Matti Hautamäki) * 2005: Austria (Wolfgang Loitzl, Andreas Widhölzl, Thomas Morgenstern & Martin Höllwarth) * 2007: Austria (Wolfgang Loitzl, Gregor Schlierenzauer, Andreas Kofler & Thomas Morgenstern) * 2009: Austria (Wolfgang Loitzl, Martin Koch, Thomas Morgenstern & Gregor Schlierenzauer) * 2011: Austria (Gregor Schlierenzauer, Martin Koch, Andreas Kofler & Thomas Morgenstern)

FIS Ski Jumping World Cup champions

1979–80: Hubert Neuper (AUT) • 1980–81: Armin Kogler (AUT) • 1981–82: Armin Kogler (AUT) • 1982–83: Matti Nykänen (FIN) • 1983–84: Jens Weißflog (GDR) • 1984–85: Matti Nykänen (FIN) • 1985–86: Matti Nykänen (FIN) • 1986–87: Vegard Opaas (NOR) • 1987–88: Matti Nykänen (FIN) • 1988–89: Jan Boklöv (SWE) • 1989–90: Ari-Pekka Nikkola (FIN) • 1990–91: Andreas Felder (AUT) • 1991–92: Toni Nieminen (FIN) • 1992–93: Andreas Goldberger (AUT) • 1993–94: Espen Bredesen (NOR) • 1994–95: Andreas Goldberger (AUT) • 1995–96: Andreas Goldberger (AUT) • 1996–97: Primož Peterka (SLO) • 1997–98: Primož Peterka (SLO) • 1998–99: Martin Schmitt (GER) • 1999–00: Martin Schmitt (GER) • 2000–01: Adam Małysz (POL) • 2001–02: Adam Małysz (POL) • 2002–03: Adam Małysz (POL) • 2003–04: Janne Ahonen (FIN) • 2004–05: Janne Ahonen (FIN) • 2005–06: Jakub Janda (CZE) • 2006–07: Adam Małysz (POL) • 2007–08: Thomas Morgenstern (AUT) • 2008–09: Gregor Schlierenzauer (AUT) • 2009–10: Simon Ammann (SUI) • 2010–11: Thomas Morgenstern (AUT)

Awards
Preceded by Georg Hackl	German Sportsman of the Year 1999	Succeeded by Nils Schumann

Persondata
Name	Schmitt, Martin
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	29 January 1978
Place of birth	Villingen-Schwenningen, Germany
Date of death
Place of death