After Züchner won gold in team jumping with Mike Arnold and Roy Koch at the Junior World Championship in Asiago in 1987 , he started in the Ski Jumping World Cup in 1989 . He made his debut on January 21, 1989 in Oberhof . Already in his first competition he achieved his first and only podium finish with 3rd place. After further good placements, he finished the 1988/89 season in 29th place in the overall World Cup ranking. He was also part of the GDR squad at the World Cup in Lahti . With places 30 and 34, respectively, he was the second best GDR jumper behind Jens Weißflog in both individual competitions, with the team he finished 7th.
In the following season Züchner could not repeat his success and ended his active ski jumping career with the dissolution of the GDR national team.
German Democratic Republic
