The Two Nights Tour was held at the start of the week in Garmisch-Partenkirchen (Germany), the women's counterpart to the Quatre Tremplins, a major ski jumping stage. The opportunity for Selina Freitag, world team champion in 2023, to denounce the inequalities in the bonuses received during qualifying for these stages. Basically, it comes down to a toiletry bag for the ladies and a monetary bonus for the gentlemen.
“For men, a victory in qualifying brings in 3,000 euros,” she explains to the German channel ARD. Here I received a bag containing shower gel, shampoo and four towels. Basically, I was told: “There you go, sorry, unfortunately we didn’t have a 500 note available” “. Before adding: “I don’t want to complain too much, but it really shows the differences.”
Words that sparked debate in the world of ski jumping. Selina Freitag's coach, Heinz Kuttin, supported her: “Women also want to earn some money. It is time to take a step in this direction (…) even if many things have evolved positively in recent years.” As reported by L'Equipe, the sports director of the German Ski Federation, Horst Hüttel, has tempered himself.
“We definitely need to think about this: for the moment, there is no prize money for qualification.” He nevertheless conceded that “the towel and the shower gel were a bit of a shame. The smartest way to do it is to give nothing at all.” The Swiss media Blick points out that women receive many bonuses during World Cup events. But these are much lower than those of men.
A success in the Women's World Cup thus offers around 4,300 euros to the ladies compared to 13,000 euros to the men. For the victory in the general classification of the Two Nights Tour, the best athlete leaves with approximately 9,400 euros. The winner of the Four Tremplins tour for men wins almost 100,000 euros.
