Beijing Winter Olympics: World champions Germany miss ski jumping mixed team final after disqualification
Germany, who have won four successive world championships, failed to reach the inaugural Olympic ski jumping mixed team final on Monday after individual silver medallist Katharina Althaus was disqualified for a suit violation on a chaotic night. Germany were hot favourites for the event, which involves two men and two women, but with only three scoring jumpers, they finished ninth of the 10 competing nations, with only eight advancing to the final later on Monday. Japan also suffered a disqualification, for Sara Takanashi, but squeezed through as did Austria, another of the favourites, when Daniela Irashko Stolz fell foul of the complex rules that link suits and skis to bodyweight in an attempt to remove any advantage that can be gained by athletes being lighter.
