Austrian ski jumper Daniel Tschofenig expressed deep frustration after being disqualified from the men's large hill individual event at the Winter Olympics for wearing boots that exceeded the permitted size by four millimetres. The 23-year-old, who had comfortably qualified for Saturday's final, had scored 137.7 in the first round before the equipment violation was discovered.

Tschofenig, the 2025 World Cup champion, admitted to using new boots during training that he wasn't satisfied with but failed to measure them properly. "Extremely stupid of me," he said, acknowledging the stress of competition contributed to the oversight. The disqualification opened a spot for Slovakia's Hektor Kapustik to advance to the final, where Slovenia's Domen Prevc ultimately claimed gold, with Japan's Ren Nikaido taking silver and Poland's Kacper Tomasiak earning bronze.

This wasn't the only equipment-related disqualification at the Games. American ski jumper Annika Belshaw, also 23, was ruled out of the women's large hill individual event when officials found her skis exceeded the maximum length by more than one centimetre. Both athletes had qualified for their respective finals but were unable to compete due to the technical violations, highlighting the strict equipment regulations that govern Olympic ski jumping.