Austrian ski jumper Daniel Tschofenig dubbed himself “extremely stupid” after being disqualified from the ongoing Winter Olympics due to oversized boots.
Competing in the men’s large hill individual event, Tschofenig had cruised through qualification and into the final – where he was fancied to pick up his first Olympic medal.
However, a kit error cost him dearly as he was found to be wearing boots four millimetres larger than the limit permitted in ski jumping, causing a disqualification.
The Austrian was understandably frustrated at his own carelessness but had no complaints about the ruling.
“I used new shoes in training which, by the way, I wasn’t very happy with, but I kept them,” Tschofenig said.
“Unfortunately, I was naive and didn’t measure it. Extremely stupid of me, there was just so much stress going on. But rules are rules.”
The 23-year-old was among the medal favourites after a stellar 2024-25 World Cup campaign where he won eight events to claim the overall World Cup title and also triumphed in the prestigious Four Hills Tournament.
He also won the first World Cup event of the new season and was hopeful of becoming an Olympic medallist in his first games.
Tschofenig scored 137.7 in the first round of qualification to book a place in the large hill final but his boots caused an immediate disqualification and Slovakia’s Hektor Kapustik took his place instead.
The final ultimately saw Slovenia’s Domen Prevc win gold with Ren Nikaido of Japan taking silver and Poland’s Kacper Tomasiak picking up bronze.
Tschofenig’s disqualification is the latest bizarre tale in ski jumping at the Milano-Cortina Olympics after reports emerged early in the Games claiming male ski jumpers were injecting their penises with hyaluronic acid before being measured for their suits to improve sporting performance.
And, on Sunday, American ski jumper Annika Belshaw was disqualified from the women’s large hill individual event because her skis were more than one centimetre too long. Like Tschofenig, the 23-year-old had qualified for the final but was kicked out.
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