Skiflug-Weltmeisterschaft
During that time he was the second best German ski jumper after Jens Weißflog. Thoma was not the first known ski jumper in the family: his uncle Georg Thoma was both world and Olympic champion in the nordic combined. Thoma won his first competition in 1990 when he won the Four Hills Tournament. He also won Ski-flying World Championships in Vikersund at the end of the 1989-90 season. Before the start of the 1993-94 season, Thoma changed his technique from jumping with parallel skis to the V-style, and was a part of the German team who won the team competition at the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer. He also won a bronze medal in the individual normal hill in Lillehammer, then won a silver medal in the team large hill competition at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano. Thoma also won a bronze in the FIS Ski-Flying World Championships 1998 in Oberstdorf.