Trouble at the Four Hills Tournament
“For me this is absolutely manipulation”
Updated on January 4, 2026 – 9:45 a.mReading time: 2 minutes
Timi Zajc is once again the focus of attention at the New Year’s competition in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. The Slovenian is disqualified – and has to endure a lot of criticism.
After two disqualifications due to non-compliant suits, Austria’s sports director Mario Stecher has made serious allegations against the Slovenian ski jumper Timi Zajc. “It really annoys me to no end. If the stride length doesn’t fit, then it didn’t fit before because the suit is getting wider and longer,” the 48-year-old told Austrian media in Innsbruck, according to the APA news agency. “For me this is absolutely manipulation. That doesn’t work.”
The 25-year-old Zajc was caught with a four millimeter deviation in his suit at the New Year’s competition in Garmisch-Partenkirchen and received a red card for the rest of the Four Hills Tournament. Because: Zajc was already noticed at the opening competition in Oberstdorf with a suit that did not conform to the rules; at that time the deviation from the norm was three millimeters. Stecher made it clear: “It’s no longer about a millimeter, it’s simply about a fundamental discussion.”
Former ski jumper Martin Schmitt had also clearly criticized Zajc at Eurosport: “This is a lesson for him. I find it cheeky – and not in a positive sense.” In Oberstdorf he still felt sorry for Zajc. “But I have absolutely no understanding of what happened here,” said Schmitt. The Slovenians had complained that chief inspector Mathias Hafele suddenly moved his inspection location from the outlet to the top.
Sven Hannawald was also upset about Zajc. “This arrogant, this disrespectful, this ignorant behavior from Timi Zajc, for example, simply taking the same suit and making fun of him via Instagram, that has to be over now,” said the 2002 tour winner of the “Sportschau”.
After jumping in Oberstdorf, Zajc wrote in his Instagram story: “What a nice competition… Let’s stretch the suit a little, maybe everything will be okay in Ga-Pa (Garmisch-Partenkirchen).” But it was demonstrably not that.