Stephan Zünd

Stephan Zünd is a Swiss former ski jumper. He competed in the normal hill and large hill events at the 1992 Winter Olympics. Along with Jan Boklöv and Jiří Malec, he was an early pioneer of the V-style.

Career

At the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville, he finished eighth in the team large hill and 20th in the individual normal hill events. Zünd's best finish at the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships was at Val di Fiemme in 1991 where he finished sixth in the team large hill and fifth in the individual large hill events. His best finish at the Ski-flying World Championships was sixth at Planica in 1994.
Zünd earned four individual World Cup career wins at various hills from 1991 to 1992.
Zünd realized early, that a low body weight can bring benefit in combination with a V-style. Therefore he stuck to a radical diet, suffered from anorexia at last and had a breakdown in December 1992. For a period of time Zünd consumed nothing but mineral water and had a weight of just 60 kg at a height of 1.81 m. After his retirement he spoke openly about his problems.
He named Walter Steiner as his idol.