Cheating?
Skepticism after the start of the tour: head coach reacts
02/01/2025 – 08:32 amReading time: 2 minutes
At the start of the tour, Austria’s ski jumpers shone – which led to some speculation. Now the ÖSV head coach reacted to this.
Germany started the Four Hills Tournament with high hopes, but ski jumper Pius Paschke, who leads the overall ranking in the World Cup, had to admit defeat to three professionals from the neighboring country right at the start. The Austrians Stefan Kraft, Jan Hörl and Daniel Tschofenig dominated the jumping and all three were on the podium.
After the ÖSV success in Oberstdorf, competitor Halvor Egner Granerud and former ski jumper Maren Lundby from Norway also spoke up. While the 28-year-old used the words “strange” and “very unusual” on the local TV station NRK, the former Olympic champion expressed her suspicions. “There has to be something,” Lundby said. Read more about this here.
Ex-jumper Andreas Stjernen questioned the equipment: “It can be assumed that their equipment is much better than that of their competitors,” he said on the TV channel Viaplay. Meanwhile, ÖSV head coach Andreas Widhölzl has also responded to the skepticism.
“Nonsense. These are not new suits, we have had them since Lillehammer and they have also been approved several times by Fis material controller (World Ski Association, editor’s note) Christian Kathol,” the Tyrolean now stated in the Austrian “Kleine Newspaper” clearly.
It’s clear to the 48-year-old that the competition looks at the material first, but he has a simple explanation: “It has to be noted that our boys are currently jumping technically better than everyone else.” Cheating is not possible anyway, as the suits, which are chipped in seven places, are checked even more strictly. “We are in a very good position at the moment, but that is the result of our good work,” continued Widhölzl.