Wolfgang Loitzl

Born on 13 January 1980 in Bad Ischl, Austria, Wolfgang Loitzl is a former professional ski jumper. His World Cup career began in 1997. He is a member of WSC Bad Mitterndorf-Steiermark ski club. During his career Loitzl has 4 individual wins in 2009 all in the large hill event. He won the 2008-2009 Four Hills Tournament with the maximum score of 20. In the entire history of ski jumping ski jumping only Anton Innauer (1976), Kazuyoshi Funaki (1998), Sven Hannawald (2003) and Hideharu Miyahira (2003) have matched this feat. Wolfgang Loitzl won seven medals at the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships: six gold as it follows: in the Individual Normal Hill in 2009, in the Team Normal Hill in 2001 and 2005; In the Team Large Hill in 2005, 2007 and 2009, and one bronze in the Team large hill in 2001. He got a bronze medal in the team event at the FIS Ski-Flying World Championships 2004 and finished 15th in the individual competition. On 21 February 2009 Loitzl won his sole gold medal for an individual event on the normal hill at the World Championships at Liberec ahead of his compatriot Gregor Schlierenzauer and Simon Amman from Switzerland. Some days later, on 28 February the same year Wolfgang Loitzl won a gold medal as a part of the Austrian quartet in the Team Large Hill event. Mostly his victories are in the team event. During the Olympic Games in 2010 in Vancouver, he won a gold medal in the Team Large Hill event alongside his teammates Andreas Kofler, Thomas Morgenstern and Gregor Schlierenzauer. After the Olympics, on 20 March 2010 he achieved his personal best ski jump of 213.5 m (700 ft) in Planica. He officially announced his retirement during the ski flying World Cup in his home town on 10 January 2015. Loiztl has been married since 11 June 2006. He and his wife Marika have two sons - Benjamin, born on 12 January 2005 and Nikolas, born on 10 February 2007.