Ski jumping – Four Hills Tournament: Debate about the Austrians’ miracle suits

Karl Geiger could only grin at the discussion about the alleged Austrian miracle suits. »Of course the material helps and the setup has to be right. But a suit has never flown alone,” said the German ski pilot at the half-time press conference for the 73rd Four Hills Tournament on Thursday in Lans. It speaks for the German ski jumping team that it does not participate in speculation about a material advantage of the Austrian team – nor as an excuse for the German inferiority to Team Austria on the tour so far.

In the currently weak ski jumping nation of Norway, for example, things are completely different. »It’s absolutely sick! Nobody knows what it is!” complained ex-top jumper and TV expert Maren Lundby. »It’s suspicious. There has to be something there.” Former Norwegian tour winner Halvor Egner Granerud is also puzzling: “We’re scratching our heads and wondering what the Austrians have come up with.” After the spectacular triple victory at the start of the tour in Oberstdorf, two Austrians also took part in the New Year’s competition on the podium – with the outstanding winner Daniel Tschofenig at the top.

Such results automatically trigger speculation in the ski jumping scene – this is part of normal competitive behavior among teams. Maybe also in the hope of unsettling one or two Austria pilots a little. Because so far the performances of Daniel Tschofenig, Jan Hörl and Stefan Kraft, the three Austrians at the top of the overall tour standings, are simply too dominant. “We have been wearing these suits since the start of the World Cup in Lillehammer in November and they have also been approved several times by the FIS material controller,” said Austria head coach Andreas Widhölzl, but already played down the allegations.

The material controls in the World Cup are stricter than ever – simply because of the body scan for every ski jumper, which is now being carried out successfully in the second winter. »It’s no longer possible to cheat. In recent years, you could catapult yourself into an even more aerodynamic flying position with extreme wedges in your shoes or rely on your sailing suit,” explains TV expert Sven Hannawald.

In the past, pilots from Norway, Poland and Slovenia in particular often had noticeably wide jumpsuits, especially in the crotch area. Like a sail, this increases the wing area in flight, one of the most important components of the distance of a jump. However, the most important thing is still the jumping performance. »The Austrians skied very well from the first World Cup this season. And if I hadn’t won five World Cups before the tour, they would have had many more podium places,” said Pius Paschke, also showing little willingness to take part in the discussion about an Austrian competitive advantage. Instead, Paschke admitted that the two younger Austria dominators Tschofenig and Hörl were currently doing “cool things” when jumping and in the air.

And national coach Stefan Horngacher, himself an Austrian, didn’t want to know anything about the “miracle suits” on the tour’s rest day: “They just jump well. You don’t have to look for things from other teams, we have enough to do with ourselves.” In any case, Pius Paschke is sure that the German pilots can ski jump just as well as the Austrians – if everything fits. The sixth-placed overall rider can’t hope for the Austrian pilots to be unsettled as a result of the discussion about their suits. Because tour leader Daniel Tschofenig announced on the rest day: “You can spy as much as you want. We have nothing to hide.”