Ski jumper Selina Freitag, victorious in a World Cup stage, denounced gender pay inequalities. To reward her for her victory, she received “shower gel, shampoo and four towels”, while the men got money.
Selina Freitag, world ski jumping champion with her German team in 2023, denounced last Monday the inequalities in the bonuses received in the world of ski jumping. She spoke on the microphone of the German channel ARD, during the Two Nights Tour 2024-2025 competition.
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Victorious during the qualifications for this stage of the Ski Jumping World Cup in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, the ski jumper received as a reward a “bag containing shower gel, shampoo and four towels”. Her male counterparts were rewarded with money.
Hygiene products for 3,200 euros
To support this inequality, the monetary reward for the men is not minimal: the winners in qualification pocket around “3,200 euros”. This amount outrages the German champion, who points out these gender inequalities. “Basically, I was told: ‘Here, sorry, unfortunately we didn’t have a 500 note available’”, she tells the ARD.
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Inequalities in sport are not new topics. Even if the 23-year-old ski jumper doesn’t want “too much [se] complain”, the situation “clearly shows the differences”.
His coach, Heinz Kuttin, gave him his support. “Women also want to earn a little money. It is time to take a step in this direction,” he said in response to Selina Freitag’s denunciations. The support remains light, the coach went on to say that “many things have evolved positively in recent years.”
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“We absolutely need to think about this”
These comments fueled controversy, something that the sports director of the German Ski Federation, Horst Hüttelwanted to appease. “We absolutely have to think about this: for the moment, there is no prize money for qualification,” he conceded.
Horst Hüttel also reacted to the package received by the German ski jumper: “the towel and the shower gel were a bit of a shame. The smartest way to proceed is to give nothing at all,” admits -he.
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Women are also rewarded in the same way as men during the World Cup events. However, the victory for women would be 4,300 euros. For men, it’s three times more, with a reward of 13,000 euros.
For the general classification of the Two Nights Tour, the winner pockets 10,000 euros. For the Four Springboards for men, the sum is even much higher. The winner wins more than 105,000 euros.
Swiss
