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 1983–1996
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)
Medal record Men's ski jumping Olympic Games 1984 Sarajevo Individual NH 1994 Lillehammer Individual LH 1994 Lillehammer Team LH 1984 Sarajevo Individual LH FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 1985 Seefeld Individual NH 1989 Lahti Individual NH 1984 Engelberg Team LH 1989 Lahti Individual LH 1995 Thunder Bay Team LH 1985 Seefeld Team LH 1991 Val di Fiemme Individual LH 1991 Val di Fiemme Team LH 1993 Falun Individual LH Men's ski flying FIS Ski Flying World Championships 1985 Planica Individual 1990 Vikersund Individual
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	02 !
1983/84	01 !	N/A	N/A	01 !
1984/85	4	N/A	N/A	01 !
1985/86	16	N/A	N/A	22
1986/87	11	N/A	N/A	7
1987/88	6	N/A	N/A	02 !
1988/89	02 !	N/A	N/A	02 !
1989/90	6	N/A	N/A	03 !
1990/91	8	19	N/A	01 !
1991/92	38	–	N/A	39
1992/93	11	–	N/A	03 !
1993/94	02 !	–	N/A	02 !
1994/95	6	14	N/A	12
1995/96	4	8	4	01 !

Wins

No.	Season	Date	Place	Hill	Size
1	1982/83	6 Jan 1983	Bischofshofen	Paul-Ausserleitner-Schanze K-109	LH
2	1983/84	1 Jan 1984	Garmisch-Partenkirchen	Große Olympiaschanze K-107	LH
3		4 Jan 1984	Innsbruck	Bergiselschanze K-106	LH
4		6 Jan 1984	Bischofshofen	Paul-Ausserleitner-Schanze K-111	LH
5		11 Jan 1984	Cortina d’Ampezzo	Trampolino Olimpico Italia K-92	NH
6		15 Jan 1984	Liberec	Ještěd A K-115	LH
7		12 Feb 1984	Sarajevo	Igman Olympic Jumps K-90	NH
8		24 Mar 1984	Planica	Bloudkova srednja K-90	NH
9	1984/85	1 Jan 1985	Garmisch-Partenkirchen	Große Olympiaschanze K-107	LH
10		17 Feb 1985	Engelberg	Gross-Titlis-Schanze K-120	LH
11	1986/87	6 Dec 1986	Thunder Bay	Big Thunder K-89	NH
12	1987/88	24 Jan 1988	Engelberg	Gross-Titlis-Schanze K-120	LH
13	1988/89	22 Jan 1989	Oberhof	Rennsteigschanze K-90	NH
14		5 Mar 1989	Oslo	Holmenkollbakken K-105	LH
15		8 Mar 1989	Örnsköldsvik	Paradiskullen K-82	NH
16		25 Mar 1989	Planica	Bloudkova srednja K-90	NH
17		26 Mar 1989	Planica	Bloudkova velikanka K-120	LH
18	1989/90	17 Dec 1989	Sapporo	Ōkurayama K-115	LH
19		1 Jan 1990	Garmisch-Partenkirchen	Große Olympiaschanze K-107	LH
20		17 Jan 1990	Zakopane	Wielka Krokiew K-116	LH
21	1990/91	30 Dec 1990	Oberstdorf	Schattenbergschanze K-115	LH
22		1 Jan 1991	Garmisch-Partenkirchen	Große Olympiaschanze K-107	LH
23	1993/94	12 Dec 1993	Planica	Bloudkova velikanka K-120	LH
24		14 Dec 1993	Predazzo	Trampolino dal Ben K-90 (night)	NH
25		30 Dec 1993	Oberstdorf	Schattenbergschanze K-115	LH
26		22 Jan 1994	Sapporo	Miyanomori K-90	NH
27		23 Jan 1994	Sapporo	Ōkurayama K-115	LH
28		5 Mar 1994	Lahti	Salpausselkä K-90	NH
29		27 Mar 1994	Thunder Bay	Big Thunder K-90	NH
30	1994/95	29 Jan 1995	Lahti	Salpausselkä K-114	LH
31	1995/96	6 Jan 1996	Bischofshofen	Paul-Ausserleitner-Schanze K-120	LH
32		20 Jan 1996	Sapporo	Miyanomori K-90	NH
33		17 Feb 1996	Iron Mountain	Pine Mountain Ski Jump K-120	LH

References

• Jens Weissflog at the International Ski Federation
• Holmenkollen medalists – click Holmenkollmedaljen for downloadable pdf file (Norwegian)
• Holmenkollen winners since 1892 – click Vinnere for downloadable pdf file (Norwegian)
• Official website (German)
• SVZ (German TV) Profile (German)