Four Hills Tournament: Newcomer Raimund – an easygoing guy with double jumping ability

Philipp Raimund, 22, climbed to 14th place in the opening round of the Four Hills Tournament and celebrated his best World Cup result to date.

Philipp Raimund loves to play video games. If he wants streams he does that from time to time inhabit. But what he loves even more is ski jumping: “The feeling of flying is simply breathtaking when you stand several feet high in the air and know 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 he is interviewed by reporters for minutes, some Fans want autographs and selfies. The motto is: enjoy, but don’t lose sight.

Ski jumping fans are smiling

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 Kurpark in Oberstdorf, he talks about his touring experience from two years ago. At that time he was part of the national group, jumping into 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 the Schattenbergschanze beam if his coach has already waved him off. “I’m not blind, but there were so many flags and then I thought, well, eight seconds has already gone green, now I should start driving slowly.” The Fans start laughing, Philipp Raimund joins in the laughter and national coach Stefan Horngacher jokingly suggests the perfect solution: “We’ll have to see if we can still find glow sticks at the airport.“

But then you don’t need it – despite thousands Fansthat give you goosebumps. “You sit up there, get a smile on your face and think to yourself: great, so many Fans, so good vibes. And then you go on the beam and you hear the shaking in the stadium“, says Raimund and somehow you can’t get rid of the feeling that he still can’t believe it himself.

Raimund family man with a special nickname

His family supports Philipp – or rather “Hille” – in the stadium. He owes his nickname to his little sister. She was unable to pronounce his name correctly, calling him “Hille”. “Somehow it’s become common practice, many don’t even know my name is Philipp“, says Raimund.

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“, recalls Philipp Raimund. His father trained him for a while. Raimund’s success is therefore also a family affair. In the conversation, the 22-year-old also remarks: “I am very grateful to my family. They give me so much confidence in myself that they just say to me: Hille, we know you can do it. Just believe in yourself, and it’s very freeing.”

Raimund convinces with his huge jumping ability

In preparation for this season, Philipp Raimund is present at all the A team camps. The Oberstdorfer bites into the team by national coach Stefan Horngacher. “He is a very smart, likeable and meticulous man who has been doubly blessed with the rebound and is also perfectly fine and in good spirits. team adapts‘ said Horngacher.

A new situation arises for Philipp Raimund: Suddenly he is traveling with the German ski jumping stars. “I held back a bit at first, but then I found out pretty quickly: they’re only humans“, says Raimund. Above all, Karl Geiger made it extremely easy for him”,because he included me with his down-to-earth manner. I had direct contact there“.

Goal for Garmisch-Partenkirchen: have fun

This season he collects initially in Wisla Welt, PolandChopped offpoints and then celebrates two victories in the second-rate ContinentalCup. Thanks to his good performance, he is now skipping his first full four-hill tournament. He has no goals for the next competition in Garmisch-Partenkirchen: “Have fun“, he says and runs laughing to the next interview.