Sven Hannawald

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Born (1974-11-09) 9 November 1974 (age 51)
Height1.84 m (6 ft 12 in)
Country Germany
SportSkiing
Sven Hannawald
Hannawald in 2019
Personal information
Born (1974-11-09) 9 November 1974 (age 51)
Height1.84 m (6 ft 12 in)
Sport
Country Germany
SportSkiing
World Cup career
Seasons19932004
Indiv. starts174
Indiv. podiums40
Indiv. wins18
Team starts11
Team podiums7
Team wins1
Four Hills titles1 (2002)
Ski Flying titles2 (1998, 2000)
Achievements and titles
Personal best(s)220 m (720 ft)
Planica, 23 March 2002
Medal record
Men's ski jumping
Olympic Games
Gold medal – first place2002 Salt Lake CityTeam LH
Silver medal – second place1998 NaganoTeam LH
Silver medal – second place2002 Salt Lake CityIndividual NH
World Championships
Gold medal – first place1999 RamsauTeam LH
Gold medal – first place2001 LahtiTeam LH
Silver medal – second place1999 RamsauIndividual LH
Bronze medal – third place2001 LahtiTeam NH
Men's ski flying
World Championships
Gold medal – first place2000 VikersundIndividual
Gold medal – first place2002 HarrachovIndividual
Silver medal – second place1998 OberstdorfIndividual
Updated on 10 February 2016

Sven Hannawald (German pronunciation: [svɛn ˈhanaˌvalt] ; born 9 November 1974) is a German former ski jumper. Having competed from 1992 to 2004, his career highlight was winning the 2002 Four Hills Tournament, when he also became the first athlete to win all four events of said tournament. He also finished runner-up twice in the World Cup season, winning four medals at the Ski Jumping World Championships, as well as three medals each at the Winter Olympic Games and Ski Flying World Championships.

Hannawald was born in Erlabrunn and grew up in the nearby town of Johanngeorgenstadt by SC Dynamo Johanngeorgenstadt in the Ore Mountains. At age twelve, he was sent to a special school for young athletes in Klingenthal (SG Dynamo Klingenthal), also in Saxony. In 1991 his family moved to Jettingen-Scheppach near Ulm where he transferred to the Furtwangen Ski Boarding School, where he completed an apprenticeship in Communication Electronics.

Ski jumping career

Hannawald in 2004

In 1998, Hannawald won a silver medal at the 1998 Ski Flying World Championships in Oberstdorf as well as a silver medal at the Olympic Games in Nagano in the team large hill event.

In the 1998/99 season, he finished in fifth place overall in World Cup Ski Jumping. At the world championships in Ramsau, he won a silver medal in the individual large hill behind Martin Schmitt, and a gold medal in the team large hill event.

In 2000, Hannawald won the Ski-flying World Championships in Vikersund. He also won the ski jumping competition at the Holmenkollen ski festival that year.

In the 2000/01 season, Hannawald won gold in the team large hill event and bronze in the team normal hill event at the world championships in Lahti.

The following winter of 2001/02 was the most successful of his career: Hannawald ended second in the World Cup, winning all four Individual jumping titles at the Four Hills Tournament, the first to do so. He successfully defended his title of Ski Flying World Champion.[1] At the Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City, he won gold in the team large hill and silver in the individual normal hill,[2] and was even nominated for Sportsman of the Year in Germany. Despite all of his successes, however, Hannawald could not top Adam Malysz in the overall World Cup ranking.

In the 2002/03 season, he finished again second in the world rankings and managed to set another highlight of his career: at the Worldcup competition in Willingen, Germany,[3] he became the third person in history to achieve perfect marks from all five judges (20 points maximum) – 27 years after the first one (Anton Innauer) and five years after the second one (Kazuyoshi Funaki). This mark has been matched only about one hour later at the same World Cup competition by Hideharu Miyahira, who finished sixth. Then it took another six years until Wolfgang Loitzl at Bischofshofen, Austria in 2009 during the 2008/09 Four Hills Tournament[4] became the fifth one.

In the 2003/04 season, Hannawald performed well below personal expectations. His best result was fourth in Trondheim. As a consequence of that, Hannawald ended his season prematurely. On 29 April 2004, he revealed that he was suffering from burnout and had put himself into psychiatric treatment. During this time, Hannawald managed to recover and reappeared to the public.[5]

On 3 August 2005, he ended his career as a ski jumper, explaining through his managers that, after successfully dealing with his burnout, he no longer wished to suffer the stresses of professional sport.[6]

Post-retirement

On 26 September 2008, Hannawald signed a two-year contract with the football club TSV Burgau of the German Kreisliga, where he played as a striker.[7]

In 2010, Hannawald gave his debut as a racing driver in the ADAC GT Masters.[8][9] He drove his first race on 10 April 2010 at Motorsport Arena Oschersleben.[10]

World Cup results

References

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