Ski jumper Paschke creates a novelty in history

In 2013, ski jumper Pius Paschke made his debut in the World Cup. The Bavarian had to wait almost ten years for his first individual podium finish. Despite the on-off relationship, giving up was never an option. The reward for hard work, determination and ambition followed at the season opener in Ruka.

Pius Paschke somehow always stood in the shadow of his teammates. When he was able to get a taste of the World Cup for the first time ten years ago, Severin Freund and Richard Freitag played first violin, later Andreas Wellinger, Karl Geiger and Markus Eisenbichler were in the spotlight.

Paschke, on the other hand, always ran under the radar. That changed suddenly on November 25, 2023. With his two top jumps on the ski jump in Ruka, the senior in the German team sailed onto the podium and into the spotlight for the first time in an individual event. Only the Austrian Stefan Kraft was better than the 33-year-old Paschke. With his victory, Kraft also prevented the first all-German podium since 1990. At that time, Andre Kiesewetter, Dieter Thoma and Josef Heumann were on the podium in Sapporo.

Paschke grabs “age record”

The fact that the triple triumph didn’t work out couldn’t dampen Paschke’s joy about his completely unexpected podium. “The fact that I’m 33 and I’m getting my first podium is of course even more awesome.”said the veteran after his podium debut at an advanced age in ski jumping, which also gave him an entry into the history books. Never before has a ski jumper been older for his first podium finish. He is now also one of the ten oldest jumpers on a podium.

Paschke is like good wine that only gets better with age. He is a late starter, someone who was only allowed to compete in the A team every now and then for a long time, but was mostly in the second ski jumping league. The jumper from Kiefersfelden has only been a regular member of the World Cup team since 2017 – but he was never sure of his place.

Regular member of the World Cup team since 2017

Paschke rotated regularly and had to go back to second place last season after a Four Hills Tournament that was disappointing for all German ski eagles. He was unable to build on his most successful 2021/22 season to date with three places in the top ten. The Bavarian only celebrated success as a team: Gold at the home World Championships in Oberstdorf and silver with the team at the Ski Flying World Championships in Planica are among the things on his CV.

It just didn’t work out individually. Still, giving up wasn’t an option. “It’s not always easy, but I really enjoy it and even when things don’t go well, it’s nice that I can do the sport.”he said after his greatest single success.

At nine for the first time on the hill

Ski jumping is the sport that Paschke has loved ever since he jumped off the ski jump in Kitzbühel for the first time as a nine-year-old. In Ruka, the police chief has now achieved his first really big success – and who knows, maybe Paschke will emulate “pterodactyl” Noriaki Kasai from Japan. He was even on the podium in 2017 at the age of 44.

Greatest successes