Thomas Morgenstern

Thomas Morgenstern (born 30 October 1986) is an Austrian former ski jumper who competed from 2002 to 2014. He is one of the most successful ski jumpers of all time, having won the World Cup overall title twice with 23 individual wins, the Four Hills Tournament and the Nordic Tournament once each, eight World Championship gold medals (one individual, seven team), and three Winter Olympic gold medals (one individual, two team).

Individual competition on World Championship 2013 in Val di Fiemme on large hill. Medal ceremony at World Championship 2013 in Val di Fiemme (team competition).

Career Morgenstern began his ski jumping career in the Continental Cup, winning three events out of four attempts. He made his senior level World Cup debut at the 2002–03 Four Hills Tournament, where he finished 9th in Oberstdorf, 25th in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, 9th in Innsbruck and 6th in Bischofshofen; this placed him 10th overall in the final tournament standings. Five days after the end of the tournament, he won his first World Cup event in Liberec. In the following summer, he won the Ski jumping Grand Prix for the first time.

At the start of the 2003–04 season, Morgenstern suffered a violent accident in Kuusamo, in which he was hit by a gust of wind just after takeoff, forcing him to flip over in mid-air and land hard on his back. He only sustained minor injuries, and managed to recover quickly to continue his success. He was second overall to Sigurd Pettersen during most of that season's Four Hills tournament, finally ending up in fourth place. He won his first team medal with a 3rd place at the Ski-Flying World Championships.

In the next season, Morgenstern won gold medals in both team events (normal hill and large hill) at the Nordic World Ski Championships.

During the 2006 Winter Olympics, he won the gold medals in the individual and team large hill competitions. Further, he won the bronze medal in the single event at the Ski-Flying World Championships in Bad Mitterndorf. With these six wins he also tied the record for most wins in a row, previously set by Janne Ahonen, Matti Hautamäki and Gregor Schlierenzauer. In early 2008, Morgenstern won a gold medal at the Ski-Flying World Championships in Oberstdorf. Morgenstern won the world cup for the first time, 233 points ahead of Gregor Schlierenzauer.

During the 2008–09 season, Morgenstern could not win any competition, but won a team gold medal at the Nordic World Ski Championships in Liberec. He recovered in time to take part in the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, where he placed 14th in the normal hill and 40th in the large hill men's individual ski jumping events.

On 26 September 2014, Morgenstern announced his retirement from competitive ski jumping. His last jump in competitive ski jumping was when he won the silver medal with the Austrian team at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.

World Cup

Standings Season Overall2002/03 20 10 N/A 92003/04 6 4 N/A 92004/05 7 N/A 82005/06 5 20 N/A 2006/07 6 4 N/A 172007/08 N/A 62008/09 7 8 18 82009/10 6 18 2010/11 N/A2011/12 7 7 N/A2012/13 25 16 — N/A 2013/14 15 — N/A

Wins No. Season Date Location Hill Size1 2002/03 11 January 2003 Liberec Ještěd A K120 (night) 2 2005/06 10 March 2006 Lillehammer Lysgårdsbakken HS134 (night) LH3 2007/08 1 December 2007 Kuusamo Rukatunturi HS142 (night) LH4 8 December 2007 Trondheim Granåsen HS131 (night) LH5 9 December 2007 Trondheim Granåsen HS131 LH6 13 December 2007 Villach Villacher Alpenarena HS98 7 14 December 2007 Villach Villacher Alpenarena HS98 (night) NH8 22 December 2007 Engelberg Gross-Titlis-Schanze HS137 LH9 30 December 2007 Oberstdorf Schattenbergschanze HS137 (night) LH10 2 February 2008 Sapporo Ōkurayama HS134 (night) LH11 3 February 2008 Sapporo Ōkurayama HS134 LH12 8 February 2008 Liberec Ještěd A HS134 (night) LH13 2009/10 6 January 2010 Bischofshofen Paul-Ausserleitner-Schanze HS140 (night) LH14 16 January 2010 Sapporo Ōkurayama HS134 (night) LH15 2010/11 4 December 2010 Lillehammer Lysgårdsbakken HS138 (night) LH16 5 December 2010 Lillehammer Lysgårdsbakken HS138 LH17 17 December 2010 Engelberg Gross-Titlis-Schanze HS137 LH18 18 December 2010 Engelberg Gross-Titlis-Schanze HS137 LH19 30 December 2010 Oberstdorf Schattenbergschanze HS137 (night) LH20 4 January 2011 Innsbruck Bergiselschanze HS130 LH21 9 January 2011 Harrachov Čerťák HS205 22 2011/12 6 January 2012 Bischofshofen Paul-Ausserleitner-Schanze HS140 (night) LH23 2013/14 14 December 2013 Titisee-Neustadt Hochfirstschanze HS142 LH

Honours Gold Merit Badge of Austria: 2004 Grand Decoration of Austria: 2006 Austrian Sportspersonality of the year: 2008, 2011 Part of the Austrian Sportsteam of the year, together with the Austrian ski jumping team: 2005, 2008, 2009, 2011 Carinthian Sportspersonality of the year: 4 times, including 2008, 2010

Personal life In 2013 he left his girlfriend of 10 years and went on vacation to Hawaii with his new girlfriend, a physiotherapist. He has a daughter named Lily (born 26 December 2012) with his ex-fiancée and twins named Sara and Tina (born 2021) with his current partner Sabrina.