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In the world of ski jumping, a little bit of extra lift goes a long way. And when it comes to the men’s ski jumping event at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan-Cortina, competitors are allegedly going to incredible lengths to get a potentially crucial advantage.
According to a report by Philip Buckingham of The Athletic, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) is investigating claims that male ski jumpers are receiving penile injections in order to cheat the rules.
Now, while that sounds crazy enough on the surface. It becomes even more wild when you dig into the how and why of it all.
Olympic Ski Jumpers Are Allegedly Using Injections For Larger Suits
German newspaper Bild originally reported in January that competitors are alleged to have used injections of paraffin or hyaluronic acid to enlarge their genitalia when being fitted for their ski jumping suit. But these injections are more than just for show.
In case you’re late to my favorite Olympic performance enhancing scandal, here are the details of penis inflate-gate. https://t.co/cNJJ56Cmtt pic.twitter.com/cA5V74uLOW
— Sickos Committee (@SickosCommittee) February 6, 2026
According to the rules of ski jumping, all suits worn during competition must be form-fitting, with no more than four centimeters larger than the surface area of the body allowed. Athletes are measured, and then high-tech suits are individually made to specification for competition.
However, by using penile injections prior to fitting for the suits, male athletes may be fit for larger suits than are actually needed. When the injections wear off, the suit becomes larger relative to the size of the body, creating a sail-like effect.
Scientific journal Frontiers reports that just a two-centimeter change in a suit represented as much as an extra 5.8 meters in the length of a jump. That is a MASSIVE difference in the world of ski jumping, especially when you consider that each competitor jumps twice in the finals.
If you double that distance to 11.6 meters, it represents the difference between winning a bronze medal and finishing ninth in the men’s large hill competition.
So the theory has solid backing.
To this point, WADA has neither named names nor kicked anyone from the competition. But the scandal appears to be very real, and as they say: no pain, no gain.