Andreas Kofler (born 17 May 1984) is an Austrian former

ski jumper Ski jumping is a winter sport in which competitors aim to achieve the farthest jump after sliding down on their skis from a specially designed curved ramp. Along with jump length, competitor's aerial style and other factors also affect the fina ...

.
, profile at International Ski Federation, FIS. Retrieved: 9.12.2011

Career

Andreas Kofler grew up in Tyrol, in the

Austrian Alps The Central Eastern Alps (german: Zentralalpen or Zentrale Ostalpen), also referred to as Austrian Central Alps (german: Österreichische Zentralalpen) or just Central Alps, comprise the main chain of the Eastern Alps in Austria and the adjacent ...

. He is a member of the ski jumping club ''SV Innsbruck-Bergisel'', together with

Gregor Schlierenzauer Gregor Schlierenzauer (; born 7 January 1990) is an Austrian former ski jumper who competed from 2006 to 2021. He is one of the most successful ski jumpers of all time, having won the FIS Ski Jumping World Cup, Ski Jumping World Cup overall titl ...

. Kofler won his first individual competition in the World Cup on 4 February 2006. Two days later, he came in second place in the team competition. At the

2006 Winter Olympics The 2006 Winter Olympics, officially the XX Olympic Winter Games ( it, XX Giochi olimpici invernali) and also known as Torino 2006, were a winter multi-sport event held from 10 to 26 February 2006 in Turin, Italy. This marked the second t ...

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

, Kofler won the silver medal in the individual competition, finishing only 0.1 points behind

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 H ...

, his teammate on the squad with whom he would later win the Olympic gold medal in the team competition. At the Nordic Ski World Championships 2007 in Sapporo, Japan, Kofler won the gold medal in the team competition and finished in sixth place in the individual competition. At the end of the season, he arrived in second place at the

Nordic Tournament The Nordic Tournament was an annual ski jumping tournament that was a part of the FIS Ski Jumping World Cup. The tournament started in 1997 as a counterpart to the widely successful Four Hills Tournament in Germany and Austria. It is held in Marc ...

, beaten only by

Adam Małysz Adam Henryk Małysz (; born 3 December 1977) is a Polish former ski jumper and rally driver. He competed in ski jumping from 1995 to 2011 and is one of the most successful athletes in the history of the sport. His many accomplishments include f ...

. After starting well into the 2007/08 season, finishing in second place behind Morgenstern twice, Kofler crashed twice during competitions, in Engelberg and in Oberstdorf. Despite not being seriously injured, Kofler struggled to shake off his poor form for this and the next season. In the 2009-2010, Kofler came in third place in

Engelberg , neighboring_municipalities = Attinghausen (UR), Gadmen (BE), Innertkirchen (BE), Isenthal (UR), Wassen (UR), Wolfenschiessen (NW) , twintowns= Engelberg (lit.: ''mountain of angel(s)'') is a village resort and a municipality in the canton ...

, ending his bad streak. During the same season, Kofler managed to win the prestigious

Four Hills Tournament The Four Hills Tournament (german: link=no, Vierschanzentournee) or the German-Austrian Ski Jumping Week (german: link=no, Deutsch-Österreichische Skisprung-Woche) is a ski jumping event composed of four World Cup events and has taken place in ...

, ahead of

Janne Ahonen Janne Petteri Ahonen (; born 11 May 1977) is a Finnish former ski jumper and drag racer. He competed in ski jumping between 1992 and 2018, and is one of the sport's most successful athletes of all time, as well as one of the most successful from ...

and

Wolfgang Loitzl Wolfgang Loitzl (born 13 January 1980) is an Austrian former ski jumper. He was the winner of the 2008–09 Four Hills Tournament and the 2009 Normal Hill World Champion. Career He won seven medals at the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships wit ...

, after winning the first event of the tournament in

Oberstdorf Oberstdorf ( Low Alemannic: ''Oberschdorf'') is a municipality and skiing and hiking town in Germany, located in the Allgäu region of the Bavarian Alps. It is the southernmost settlement in Germany and one of its highest towns. At the&nb ...

. Kofler could not meet expectations in the first event (on the normal hill) of the

2010 Winter Olympics )'' , nations = 82 , athletes = 2,626 , events = 86 in 7 sports (15 disciplines) , opening = February 12, 2010 , closing = February 28, 2010 , opened_by = Governor General Michaëlle Jean , cauldron = Catriona Le May DoanNancy GreeneWayne Gretz ...

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

, coming in 19th place. Nonetheless, he finished in fourth place on the large hill, only one point from the podium, and won the team competition with his teammates Wolfgang Loitzl, Thomas Morgenstern and Gregor Schlierenzauer—his second Olympic gold medal after 2006. During the 2010/11 season, Kofler recorded three individual wins, including the first event of the season in

Kuusamo Kuusamo ( sme, Guossán; smn, Kuáccám) is a town and municipality in Finland. It is located in the Northern Ostrobothnia region. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The population density is . T ...

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

. Despite a training deficit due to back problems related to his

spinal disc An intervertebral disc (or intervertebral fibrocartilage) lies between adjacent vertebrae in the vertebral column. Each disc forms a fibrocartilaginous joint (a symphysis), to allow slight movement of the vertebrae, to act as a ligament to hold ...

s, Kofler started the 2011/12 season by winning the first two events, which took place in

Lillehammer Lillehammer () is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Gudbrandsdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Lillehammer. Some of the more notable villages in the municip ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

."More gold for Kofler in Lillehammer"
''Eurosport''. Retrieved: 9.12.2011

World Cup

Standings

Wins

Personal life

In 2007, Andreas Kofler started a four-year formation to become a member of the Austrian police force, as part of a program for competitive athletes. In May 2011, Kofler passed his final examinations and hence concluded his formation. His hobbies include

telemark skiing Telemark skiing is a skiing technique that combines elements of Alpine and Nordic skiing, using the rear foot to keep balance while pushing on the front foot to create a carving turn on downhill skis with toe-only bindings. Telemark skiing is na ...

, football, surfing and climbing. Andreas Kofler currently resides in

Thaur Thaur is a municipality in the district of Innsbruck-Land in the Austrian state of Tyrol located 5 km east of Innsbruck between Rum, Austria Rum is a market town (since 1987) located in the Austrian state of Tyrol on the eastern border of I ...

Tyrol Tyrol (; historically the Tyrole; de-AT, Tirol ; it, Tirolo) is a historical region in the Alps - in Northern Italy and western Austria. The area was historically the core of the County of Tyrol, part of the Holy Roman Empire, Austrian Emp ...

.
Biography on personal homepage. Retrieved: 09.12.2011.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kofler, Andreas 1984 births Austrian male ski jumpers Living people Olympic gold medalists for Austria Olympic silver medalists for Austria Olympic ski jumpers of Austria Ski jumpers at the 2006 Winter Olympics Ski jumpers at the 2010 Winter Olympics Sportspeople from Innsbruck Olympic medalists in ski jumping FIS Nordic World Ski Championships medalists in ski jumping Medalists at the 2010 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 2006 Winter Olympics 21st-century Austrian people