Jan Schmid during the ski jump from the Holmenkollen ski jump as part of the Nordic Cup 2005.
Jan Schmid has Norwegian citizenship, but his parents were Swiss. His younger brother, Tommy Schmid, is also a Nordic combined athlete, but he competes for Switzerland. Schmid is a member of the Norwegian club Sjetne IL , and he is also part of the Granaasen Ski Team training team . Until 2006 he worked for the Swiss association TV Unterstrass . Schmid lives in Trondheim in the Tiller district and studies at the University of Trondheim . At the age of 16 Schmid was part of the Swiss national team.
Schmid made his international debut for Switzerland in early December 2001 in Vuokatti in the B World Cup, where he finished 24th in a Gundersen competition. His second race was a mass start in which he finished second. Several top ten results followed. At the end of the same month he was promoted to the A-World Cup and made his debut here as 32nd in a sprint in Oberwiesenthal . At the beginning of January 2002 he won his first World Cup points as 18th in a Gundersen competition in Schonach . He then won a B-World Cup in a mass start in Baiersbronn, and a little later a sprint. Outstanding results have not yet followed. At the Junior World Championships in Schonach in 2002, Schmid just barely missed a medal in fourth. A year later he was seventh in the Gundersen competition and tenth in the pursuit in Sollefteå . He was then nominated for the first time for the Nordic World Ski Championships 2003 in Val di Fiemme and used in two races. Schmid finished 27th in Gundersen and 30th in the sprint. In November, the Swiss, who had to be relegated to the B World Cup from time to time, was able to finish tenth in an individual among the top ten for the first time.
At the beginning of January 2004 Schmid was sixth in a sprint in Reit im Winkl . In the end he finished 18th in the overall World Cup ranking, his best result in this ranking to date. Another highlight was the 2005 Winter Universiade in Seefeld , where Schmid won bronze behind Bernhard Gruber and Sergei Maslennikow . In the special jumpers he came in tenth place when jumping from the large hill. The 2005 World Cup in Oberstdorf did not bring any outstanding results when he was 29th in the Gundersen competition and 32nd in the sprint and sixth with the Swiss relay. At the Olympic Winter Games in Turin in 2006 , Schmid was used in the Swiss relay and achieved fourth place together with Ronny Heer , Andreas Hurschler and Ivan Rieder . After the performance development of the young Swiss stagnated and a sixth place in Harrachov in January 2006 in a sprint was the best result after a long time, Schmid decided to switch to the Norwegian national team.
Schmid's change did not go smoothly, the Swiss federation demanded a transfer that the Norwegian federation could not pay. Ultimately, Schmid raised the money himself with the help of Norwegian sponsors. However, he did not get a possible ban from the Fédération Internationale de Ski because of the change. Schmid was able to compete for Norway from the 2006/07 season and was 14th in the Gundersen competition in Kuusamo on this debut in November . On average, the results are now better, although still not outstanding. He often made it into the top 20, and now and then he made it into the top ten. For the first time, Schmid made it to the podium in third place in the Gundersen competition in December 2008 in Ramsau am Dachstein .
At the 2009 World Championships in Liberec , Czech Republic , he won his first international medals for Norway when he came second in the Gundersen competition on the normal hill and third with the Norwegian relay on the large hill. In the Gundersen competition on the large hill he was twelfth and in the mass start competition he was 13th. At the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver , he finished 23rd in the Gundersen competition on the normal hill. In the team competition he finished fifth together with Espen Rian , Petter Tande and Magnus Moan . At the 2011 World Championships in Oslo he was able to win the bronze medal in both team competitions (normal and large hill) with the Norwegian team, while in the individual competitions using the Gundersen method he was only 14th (large hill) and 24th (normal hill).
At the 2015 World Championships in Falun , Sweden , he was only used in the two Gundersen competitions and only finished 31st on both the large and normal hill. At the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang , Schmid was one of the favorites because at the time of the games he was second in the overall World Cup ranking. At the Gundersen competitions on the normal hill and on the large hill, however, he clearly missed the medal ranks with 25th and 11th place respectively. Together with Espen Andersen , Jarl Magnus Riiber and Jørgen Graabak , he won silver behind Germany in the relay over 4 × 5 km from the large hill.
In 2019 Schmid won at the Nordic World Ski Championships together with Espen Bjørnstad , Jørgen Graabak and Jarl Magnus Riiber gold in the relay and silver in the team sprint and in the individual on the large hill. In the individual on the normal hill, he finished 21st. In April 2019, he announced the end of his career.
Norway
Ramsau
Lahti
Val di Fiemme
Chaux-Neuve
Hakuba
Oberstdorf
