Ex-DSV Adler sounds the alarm
“Otherwise the lights will go out in ski jumping Germany”
January 10, 2026 – 9:40 a.mReading time: 2 minutes
Only two German ski jumpers made it into the top 20 at the Four Hills Tournament. The overall result of the DSV is therefore rather disappointing. An ex-jumper raises the alarm.
Gerd Siegmund is very worried about German ski jumping. The former DSV Adler and vice world champion criticized the German yield at the Four Hills Tournament in his podcast “Spitzensalat”. He only protected Felix Hoffmann and Philipp Raimund, as both were among the top ten jumpers.
“Everything else that happens in Germany is a total loss.” The situation is dramatic, warned the former vice world champion: “Otherwise the lights will go out in ski jumping Germany.”
Pius Paschke was only in 23rd place in the overall ranking, Andreas Wellinger even in 36th place, Karl Geiger in 45th place. Siegmund sees structural problems: there is a lack of talent, trainers and jumps. “If we are very unlucky, we will have to go through a dry spell lasting years,” he said.
Siegmund is not the only ex-jumper to adopt a critical tone. Sven Hannawald recently criticized the attitude of some athletes. “I noticed again that it wasn’t possible for us Germans to ‘give more gas’,” he said in an interview with RTL/ntv and “sport.de”. “I don’t see a lot of jumpers now who are angry or just vent because it’s just annoying that they somehow can’t manage it,” said Hannawald, who exempted Raimund from his criticism: “I don’t have the feeling that anyone somewhere is burning to move forward. And I think that’s a bit of the difference to Austria.”
Even if Siegmund is also critical, he doesn’t see any problems when it comes to attitude. “I am not convinced that those who come into the national team are complacent and would no longer work and train,” he made it clear. “I don’t think that when you’ve invested 15 years, you say: ‘Now I’m in the national team, now I can sit back’. I just don’t believe that,” said Siegmund.
The 52-year-old sees more structural problems: there is a lack of talent, trainers and jumps. “If we are very unlucky, we will have to go through a dry spell that will last for years,” said Siegmund.