Austria’s Daniel Tschofenig disqualified from event for wearing oversized boots

Austrian ski jumper Daniel Tschofenig said he felt “extremely stupid” after being disqualified from the men’s big hill individual competition for wearing oversized boots.

Tschofenig, 23, had easily qualified for Saturday’s final, but an error in his jersey had his Winter Olympic medal hopes dashed.

It was revealed that the 2025 World Cup champion was wearing boots 4 millimeters larger than the rules allow.

“I used new shoes in training, I wasn’t very happy with them by the way, but I kept them,” Tschofenig said.

“Unfortunately, I was naive and didn’t measure up. I’m extremely stupid, there was so much stress. But rules are rules.”

Tschofenig had scored 137.7 in the first round, but a rule violation resulted in his immediate disqualification, giving Slovakia’s Hektor Kapustik a path to the final.

Slovenian Domen Prevc won the gold medal, Japan’s Ren Nikaido took silver, and Poland’s Kacper Tomasyak took bronze.