22-year-old Philipp Raimund jumped to 14th place in the opening event of the Four Hills Tournament and thus celebrated his best World Cup result to date.
Philipp Raimund loves to play video games. If he feels like it, he also streams it live from time to time. But what he loves even more is ski jumping: “The feeling of flying is simply breathtaking when you are standing meters high in the air and you know that you have everything under control.”
At the opening event in Oberstdorf, the German managed jumps of 118.5 and 124 meters – Raimund became the third best German and was then almost as popular as the top jumpers. In the mixed zone, journalists interview him for a few minutes, and some fans want autographs and selfies. The motto is: enjoy, but don’t lose focus.
Ski jumping fans put a smile on their faces
Philipp Raimund describes himself as “very bright” and “chaotic“. He’s a relaxed guy who can smile about himself. At the opening ceremony on Tuesday in the Oberstdorf Kurpark, he talks about his tour experience from two years ago. At that time he was part of the national group, jumping in a duel against Karl Geiger.
But that’s not the only challenge: in front of the sea of black, red and gold flags, he can’t tell from the beam of Schattenbergschanze whether his coach has already waved him off. “I’m not blind, but there were so many flags and then I thought to myself: well, eight seconds have already gone green, now I should slowly start driving.” The fans burst out laughing, Philipp Raimund joins in and national coach Stefan Horngacher jokingly suggests the perfect solution: “We’ll have to see if we can still find glowsticks at the airport.“
But then it doesn’t need it – despite thousands of fans who create goosebumps. “You sit up there, you get a grin on your face and you think: great, so many fans, such a good atmosphere. And then you go on the beam and you hear the quake in the stadium“, says Raimund and somehow you can’t shake the feeling that he still can’t quite believe it himself.
Family man Raimund with a special nickname
His family is rooting for Philipp in the stadium – or rather, for “Hille”. He owes his nickname to his little sister. She used to be unable to pronounce his name correctly, calling him “Hille”. “Somehow that became common practice, many don’t even know that my name is Philipp“, Raimund says.
He has three siblings in total. His big brother motivated him to start ski jumping at the age of five. “I always wanted to be better than him“, remembers Philipp Raimund. His father trained him for a while. Raimund’s success is therefore also a family matter. In conversation, the 22-year-old also notices: “I am very grateful to my family. They give me so much self-confidence that they just say: Hille, we know you can do it. Just believe in yourself and that’s very liberating.”
Raimund convinces with his enormous jumping ability
In preparation for this season, Philipp Raimund is present at all courses for the A squad. The man from Oberstdorf bites into the team of national coach Stefan Horngacher. “He’s a highly intelligent, personable, meticulous fellow who has been doubly blessed with bounce and is also totally fine and fits in well with the team” says Horngacher.
A new situation arises for Philipp Raimund: Suddenly he is traveling together with the German ski jumping stars. “I held back a bit at first, but then I found out relatively quickly: They’re only human“, says Raimund. Above all, Karl Geiger made it extremely easy for him, “because he included me with his down-to-earth manner. I had a direct contact there“.
Goal for Garmisch-Partenkirchen: have fun
This season he collects World Cup points at the start in Wisla, Poland, and then celebrates two victories in the second-rate Continental Cup. Thanks to the strong performances, he now jumps his first complete Four Hills Tournament. He has no goals for the next competition in Garmisch-Partenkirchen: “just have fun“, he says and runs laughing to the next interview.