Winter Olympics officials have been forced to address claims that male ski jumpers have been injecting their penises with hyaluronic acid to gain a competitive advantage.
The allegations surfaced last month via German newspaper Bild, which claimed that ski jumpers would get the injections, otherwise known as penis fillers, to increase the circumference of their genitals by one to two centimeters before they’re measured for their suits. As reported by the BBC, an increase in size would mean that they would have to have a larger suit, and an increase in surface air could lead to a longer flight time during their jumps.”
Before the start of each ski jumping season, competitors are measured for their suits using 3D body scanners. To compete in the sport, athletes need to wear “elastic, body-tight underwear,” but suits must have between 2 and 4cm tolerance.
“Every extra centimetre on a suit counts. If your suit has a 5% bigger surface area, you fly further,” said the International Ski and Snowboard Federation’s (FIS) ski jumping men’s race director Sandro Pertile. The World Anti-Doping Agency’s (WADA) director, Olivier Niggli, meanwhile, said they were not aware of the practice and how it could improve performance, but it could lead to an investigation.
“If anything was to come to the surface, we would look at it and see if it is doping-related,” said Niggli. “We don't address other [non-doping] means of enhancing performance.” Hyaluronic acid is not banned in the sport, but FIS communications director Bruno Sassi said there’s no evidence to support the claims. “There has never been any indication, let alone evidence, that any competitor has ever made use of a hyaluronic acid injection to attempt to gain a competitive advantage,” he explained.
A non-penis-related controversy previously impacted the sport when two Norwegian Olympic medallists, Marius Lindvik and Johann Andre Forfang, were found to have tampered with their suits to gain an advantage at the World Ski Championships in Norway in March 2025. The two athletes were given a three-month suspension and were accused by the FIS of trying to “cheat the system” by using reinforced threads in their jumpsuits.
