Philipp Raimund pulled a major upset at the Winter Olympics in Predazzo, Italy. The 25-year-old German athlete won a gold medal on the normal hill despite a fear of heights.
It was his first world title— ever!
Raimund stood atop the podium alongside two other unexpected medalists at the Olympics. He is the only one who does not like heights in a sport that requires a lot of height.
Who is Philipp Raimund?
At 25 years old, Raimund had never won an individual World Cup title or competed at the Olympics. The sixth-ranked ski jumper won a bronze medal on the large hill at the European Games in 2023 and the Grand Prix in 2025 but that was it.
He was always in the mix, rarely in the lead.
Despite his success in ski jumping, a sport in which he flies more than 300 feet at speeds of up to 60 miles per hour, Philipp Raimund is scared of heights. The German athlete had to pull out of the World Cup last March because he got the yips.
“As some of you may know, I am scared of heights,” Raimund wrote on Instagram. “I usually have it under control, and it usually isn’t a problem while ski jumping, but from time to time, I have the issue (mainly while ski flying) that my body is reacting without me controlling it.”
Despite the long distance of their flight, the jumpers’ trajectory closely follows the slope, which keeps them only 10–15 feet off the ground at any one time. Otherwise, Raimund wouldn’t be able to do it.
Still, the normal ski jumping hill starts at a height of ~320 feet while the large hill starts at around ~400 feet. To be scared of heights while starting each jump more than 300 feet above the ground is not ideal.
The Olympics did not go as expected!
The normal hill competition took place at the newly-renovated Predazzo Olympic Ski Jumping Hill at the Giuseppe Dal Ben Ski Jumping Stadium in Predazzo, Italy. A tailwind presented a challenge for the top ski jumpers in the world because it pushes their skis downward while they fly through the air, which cuts into the distance traveled. A headwind pushes their skis up and propels them further.
As a result, only one jumper ranked inside the top-five finished on the podium.
Poland’s Kacper Tomasiak (ranked 14th) took silver, while Japan’s Ren Nikaidō (ranked third) and Switzerland’s Gregor Deschwanden (ranked 24th) tied for bronze. Philipp Raimund (ranked sixth) won gold in his first-ever appearance at the Olympics with a jump of 106.5 meters.
There you have it, kids! Even you — yes, you — can conquer your fear of heights to become an Olympic gold medalist in ski jumping. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.