Ski jumping

Name	Ski jumping
Imagesize	225px
Caption	Letalnica Bratov Gorišek in Planica, Slovenia
Union	International Ski Federation
First	19th Century, Morgedal, Norway
Team	Individual or groups
Olympic	2010

Ski jumping is a sport in which skiers go down a take-off ramp, jump and attempt to land as far as possible down the hill below. In addition to the length of the jump, judges give points for style. The skis used for ski jumping are wide and long (). Ski jumping is predominantly a winter sport, performed on snow, and is part of the Winter Olympic Games, but can also be performed in summer on artificial surfaces – porcelain or frost rail track on the , plastic on the landing hill.

History

during the 2006 Winter Olympics of Turin.]] True ski jumping originates in Morgedal, Norway. Olaf Rye, a Norwegian lieutenant, was the first known ski jumper. In 1809, he launched himself 9.5 metres in the air in front of an audience of other soldiers. By 1862, ski jumpers were tackling much larger jumps and traveling longer. Norway's Sondre Norheim jumped 30 metres over a rock without the benefit of poles. His record stood for three decades. The first proper competition was held in Trysil. The first widely known ski jumping competition was the Husebyrennene, held in Oslo in 1879, with Olaf Haugann of Norway setting the first world record for the longest ski jump at 20 metres. The annual event was moved to Holmenkollen from 1892, and Holmenkollen has remained the pinnacle of ski jumping venues.

Competition

Today, World Cup ski jumping competitions are held on three types of hills:

;Normal hill competitions :for which the calculation line is found at approximately . Distances of up to and over can be reached. ;Large hill competitions :for which the calculation line is found at approximately . Distances of over can be obtained on the larger hills. Both individual and team competitions are run on these hills. ;Ski-flying competitions :for which the calculation line is found at . The Ski Flying World Record of is held by Bjørn Einar Romøren, and was set in Planica, Slovenia in March 2005.

Amateur and junior competitions are held on smaller hills.

Individual Olympic competition consists of a training jump and two scored jumps. The team event consists of four members of the same nation, who each jump twice.

Ski jumping is one of the two elements of the Nordic combined sport.

Summer jumping

Ski jumping can also be performed in the summer on a porcelain track and plastic grass combined with water. There are also many competitions during the summer. The World Cup (Summer Grand Prix) often includes those hills:

* Hinterzarten K-95

Courchevel K-120

Einsiedeln K-105

Klingenthal K-125

Zakopane K-120

Hakuba K-120

Pragelato K-125

Liberec K-120

Kranj K-100

Wisla K-120

Ski jumping Fis-Cup and Continental Cup also have summer competitions and even more than the World Cup.

Olympic competition

According to the International Olympic Committee's site:

Ski jumping has been part of the Olympic Winter Games since the first Games in Chamonix Mont-Blanc in 1924. The Large Hill competition was included on the Olympic programme for the 1964 Olympic Games in Innsbruck.

The existence of a men's competition without a women's competition has become a major bone of contention as the field of elite female competitors has grown.

Women's ski jumping

Currently, women ski jump internationally in the Continental cup. On 26 May 2006, the International Ski Federation decided to allow women to ski jump at the 2009 Nordic World Ski Championships in Liberec, Czech Republic and then to have a team event for women at the 2011 world championships. FIS also decided to submit a proposal to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to allow women to compete at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

On 28 November 2006, the proposal for a women's ski jumping event was rejected by the Executive Board of the IOC. The reason for the rejection cited the low number of athletes as well as few participating countries in the sport. The Executive Board noted that women's ski jumping has yet to be fully established internationally. Jacques Rogge, president of the International Olympic Committee stated that women's ski jumping will not be an Olympic event because "we do not want the medals to be diluted and watered down," referring to the relatively small number of potential competitors in women's ski jumping.

It has been noted that while the number of women in ski jumping is not insignificant, the field has a much wider spread in terms of talent, in that the top men are all of a similar level of strength competitively, while the women are more varied, even in the top tiers.

A group of 15 competitive female ski jumpers filed a suit against the Vancouver Organizing Committee (VANOC) claiming that conducting a men's ski jumping event without a women's event in the Vancouver Winter Olympics in 2010 would be in direct violation of Section 15 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The arguments associated with this suit were argued 20 to 24 April 2009 and a judgment came down on June 10, 2009 against the ski jumpers. The judge ruled that although the women were being discriminated against, the issue is a International Olympic Committee responsibility and thus not governed by the charter. It further ruled that the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms does not apply to VANOC. Three British Columbia judges unanimously denied an appeal on November 13, 2009. The American actress and documentary film producer Virginia Madsen has chronicled the Canadian team's efforts in a film called Fighting Gravity (2009).

Records

All Pre-World Cup, Olympic Games, World Championships & World Cup events are included. (As of 9 January 2011) {| class="wikitable" |- ! Category !! Ski Jumper !! Record !! Year |- | colspan="1" align="center" bgcolor="#FFFF99" | Olympic Games | colspan="8" | |- | most individual victories || Simon Ammann || 4 || 2002–2010 |- | all medals || Matti Nykänen || 5 || 1984–1988 |- | rowspan="3"| most team victories || Finland Team || 2 || 1988–1992 |- || Germany Team || 2 || 1994–2002 |- || Austria Team || 2 || 2006–2010 |- | most team medals || Austria Team || 5 || 1992–2010 |- | youngest winner individual (Albertville) || Toni Nieminen || 16,7 (age) || 1992 |- | oldest winner individual (Lillehammer) || Jens Weißflog || 29,4 (age) || 1994 |- | by No. of Olympic appearances || Noriaki Kasai || 6 || 1992–2010 |- | colspan="1" align="center" bgcolor="#FFFF99" | World Championships (Normal & Large Hill) | colspan="8" | |- | rowspan="2"| most individual victories || Birger Ruud || 3 || 1931–1937 |- || Adam Małysz || 3 || 2001–2007 |- | rowspan="2"| most individual medals || Jens Weißflog || 5 || 1985–1993 |- || Adam Małysz || 5 || 2001–2007 |- | all medals || Janne Ahonen || 10 || 1995–2005 |- | most team victories || Finland Team || 7 || 1984–2003 |- | rowspan="2"| most team medals || Finland Team || 12 || 1984–2005 |- || Austria Team || 12 || 1982–2009 |- | youngest winner individual (Thunder Bay) || Tommy Ingebrigtsen || 17,6 (age) || 1995 |- | oldest winner individual (Liberec) || Andreas Küttel || 29,8 (age) || 2009 |- | by No. of Championships appearances || Noriaki Kasai || 9 || 1989–2009 |- | colspan="1" align="center" bgcolor="#FFFF99" | World Championships (Ski-Flying) | colspan="8" | |- | rowspan="3"| most individual victories || Walter Steiner || 2 || 1972–1977 |- || Sven Hannawald || 2 || 2000–2002 |- || Roar Ljøkelsøy || 2 || 2004–2006 |- | most individual medals || Matti Nykänen || 5 || 1983–1990 |- | all medals || Janne Ahonen || 7 || 1996–2008 |- | rowspan="2"| most team victories || Norway Team || 2 || 2004–2006 |- || Austria Team || 2 || 2008–2010 |- | rowspan="2"| most team medals || Norway Team || 4 || 2004–2010 |- || Finland Team || 4 || 2004–2010 |- | youngest winner individual (Planica) || Armin Kogler || 19,3 (age) || 1979 |- | oldest winner individual (Planica) || Simon Ammann || 28,7 (age) || 2010 |- | by No. of Championships appearances || Janne Ahonen || 9 || 1994–2010 |- | colspan="1" align="center" bgcolor="#FFFF99" | Four Hills Tournament | colspan="8" | |- | most overall victories|| Janne Ahonen || 5 || 1999–2008 |- | most individual victories|| Jens Weißflog || 10 || 1983–1996 |- | youngest winner individual (Oberstdorf) || Toni Nieminen || 16,5 (age) || 1991 |- | oldest winner individual (Bischofshofen) || Jens Weißflog || 31,4 (age) || 1996 |- | youngest winner overall || Toni Nieminen || 16,5 (age) || 1992 |- | oldest winner overall || Jens Weißflog || 31,4 (age) || 1996 |- | colspan="1" align="center" bgcolor="#FFFF99" | World Cup | colspan="8" | |- | rowspan="2"| most overall wins || Matti Nykänen || 4 || 1983–1988 |- || Adam Małysz || 4 || 2001–2007 |- | most individual victories || Matti Nykänen || 46 || 1981–1989 |- | most individual podiums || Janne Ahonen || 108 || 1993–2010 |- | most individual Top 10 results || Janne Ahonen || 245 || 1993–2011 |- | most team victories || Austria team || 19 || 1990–2011 |- | most team medals || Austria team || 52 || 1990–2011 |- | most individual performances || Noriaki Kasai || 385 || 1989-active |- | most team performances || Noriaki Kasai || 36 || 1989-active |- | all performances || Noriaki Kasai || 421 || 1989-active |- | most seasons || Noriaki Kasai || 22 || 1989-active |- | most ski-flying individual victories || Gregor Schlierenzauer || 7 || 2006-active |- | youngest winner individual (Thunder Bay) || Toni Nieminen || 16,5 (age) || 1991 |- | oldest winner individual (Kuopio) || Takanobu Okabe || 38,4 (age) || 2009 |- | youngest winner overall || Toni Nieminen || 16,8 (age) || 1992 |- | oldest winner overall || Adam Małysz || 29,3 (age) || 2007 |- | colspan="1" align="center" bgcolor="#FFFF99" | Other records | colspan="8" | |- | first jump over 100m (Planica) || Sepp Bradl || 101m || 1936 |- | rowspan="2"|first jump over 200m (Planica) || Andreas Goldberger (fall, invalid) || 202m* || 1994 |- || Toni Nieminen (offical) || 203m || 1994 |- | most jumps over 200m || Robert Kranjec || 92 || 1998-active |- | rowspan="2"|world record (Planica) || Bjørn Einar Romøren (offical) || 239m || 2005 |- || Janne Ahonen (fall) || 240m* || 2005 |- | first World Cup team event || Lahti || march || 1990 |}

Scoring

The winner is decided on a scoring system based on distance, style, inrun length and wind conditions.

Each hill has a target called the calculation point (or K point or "critical point") which is a par distance to aim for. It is also the place where many jumpers land, in the middle of the landing area. This point is marked by the K line on the landing strip. For K-90 and K-120 competitions, the K line is at and respectively. Skiers are awarded 60 points if they land on the K Line. Skiers not landing on the K Line receive or lose points for every metre (3 ft) they miss the mark by, depending on if they surpass it or fall short, respectively. The value of a metre is determined from the size of the hill. The K point is the point on the hill where the slope begins to flatten as measured from the take off.

In addition, five judges are based in a tower to the side of the expected landing point. They can award up to 20 points each for style based on keeping the skis steady during flight, balance, good body position, and landing. The highest and lowest style scores are disregarded, with the remaining three scores added to the distance score. Thus, a perfectly-scored K-120 jump - with at least four of the judges awarding 20 points each - and the jumper landing on the K-point, is awarded a total of 120 points.

In January 2010, a new scoring system was introduced to compensate for variable outdoor conditions. Aerodynamics and take-off speed are important variables that determine the value of a jump, and if weather conditions change during a competition, the conditions will not be equal for everyone and thus unfair. The jumper will now receive or lose points if the inrun length is adjusted. An advanced calculation also determines plus/minus points for the actual wind conditions at the time of the jump. These points are added or withdrawn from the original scores from the jump itself.

In the individual event, the scores from each skier's two competition jumps are combined to determine the winner.

Rules

Ski jumpers below the minimum safe body mass index are penalized with a shorter maximum ski length, reducing the aerodynamic lift they can achieve. These rules have been credited with stopping the most severe cases of underweight athletes, but some competitors still lose weight to maximize the distance they can jump.

Technique

The ski jump is divided into four separate sections; 1) In-run, 2) Take-off (jump), 3) Flight and 4) Landing. In each part the athlete is required to pay attention to and practice a particular technique in order to maximise the outcome of ultimate length and style marks.

Using the modern V-technique, pioneered by Jan Boklöv of Sweden in 1985, world-class skiers are able to exceed the distance of the take-off hill by about 10% compared to the previous technique with parallel skis. Aerodynamics has become a factor of increasing importance in modern ski jumping, with recent rules addressing the regulation of ski jumping suits. This follows a period when loopholes in the rules seemed to favour skinny jumpers in stiff, air foil-like suits.

Previous techniques first included the Kongsberger technique, developed in Kongsberg, Norway by two ski jumpers, Jacob Tullin Thams and Sigmund Ruud following World War I. This technique had the upper body bent at the hip, a wide forward lean, and arms extended to the front with the skis parallel to each other. It would lead to jumping length going from 45 meters to over 100 meters. In the 1950s Andreas Daescher of Switzerland and Erich Windisch of Germany modified the Kongsberger technique by placing his arms backward toward his hips for a closer lean. The Daescher technique and Windisch technique were the standard for ski jumping from the 1950s.

Until the mid 1970s, the Ski jumper would come down the in-run of the hill with both arms pointing forwards. This changed when the former East German Ski jumper Jochen Danneberg introduced the new in-run technique of directing the arms backwards in a more aerodynamic position.

The landing requires the skiers to touch the ground in the Telemark landing style. This involves the jumper landing with one foot in front of the other, mimicking the style of the Norwegian inventors of Telemark skiing. Failure to comply with this regulation will lead to the deduction of style marks (points).

Popularity

Ski jumping is popular among spectators and TV audiences in Scandinavia and Central Europe. Almost all world-class ski jumpers come from those regions or from Japan. Traditionally, the strongest countries are Finland, Norway, Germany, Austria, Poland, Switzerland, Slovenia, and Japan. However, there have always been successful ski jumpers from other countries as well (see list below). The Four Hills Tournament, held annually at four sites in Bavaria, Germany and Austria around New Year's, is very popular.

There have been attempts to spread the popularity of the sport by finding ways by which the construction and upkeep of practicing and competition venues can be made easier. These include plastic fake snow to provide a slippery surface even during the summer time and in locations where snow is a rare occurrence.

Ski flying

Ski flying is an extreme version of ski jumping. The events take place in big hills with a K-spot of at least . The "father" of ski flying is Janez Gorišek, an engineer, sportsman and enthusiastic sport-promoter who designed the Planica ski-jump. There are five ski flying hills in the world today: Vikersundbakken in Vikersund, Norway; Oberstdorf, Germany; Kulm Austria; Letalnica, Planica, Slovenia; and Harrachov, Czech Republic. A sixth hill, Copper Peak in the western Upper Peninsula of Michigan, is currently disused, although there are plans to rebuild it to FIS standards. There are plans for more ski flying hills, even for an indoor ski flying hill in Ylitornio, Finland. The biggest hill is in Planica, where all the longest ski jumps have taken place. It's possible to fly more than in all the ski flying hills, and the current World Record is , set by Norwegian Bjørn Einar Romøren at Planica in 2005. This record was surpassed by Janne Ahonen of Finland at the same competition, but his jump was not recognised as Ahonen fell when he landed.

The Fédération Internationale de Ski (FIS) Ski flying World Championships started in 1972 and have been held on a mainly biennial basis, although there have been several occasions where events were held annually. The 2010 FIS World Championships in skiflying were organised in Planica, and in 2012 the FIS World Championships will take place in Vikersund, Norway.

Notable ski jumpers

The most notable ski jumpers may be considered those who have managed to show a perfect jump, which means that all five judges attributed the maximum style score of 20 points for their jumps.

So far only 5 jumpers are recorded to have achieved this:

{| class="wikitable" |- class="hintergrundfarbe8" ! Name ! Date ! Location ! Competition ! Rank |- | Anton Innauer | align="center" | 7 March 1976 | Oberstdorf | Ski flying (International ski flying weeks) | align="center" | 1 |- | Kazuyoshi Funaki | align="center" | 15 February 1998 | Nagano | Olympic Winter Games, large hill, second jump | align="center" | 1 |- | Sven Hannawald | align="center" | 8 February 2003 | Willingen | Worldcup competition, large hill, first jump | align="center" | 1 |- | Hideharu Miyahira | align="center" | 8 February 2003 | Bischofshofen | Four Hills Jumping, large hill, first jump | align="center" | 1 |}

Sven Hannawald and Wolfgang Loitzl were attributed four times 20 (plus another 19,5) style score points for their second jump, thus receiving nine times the maximum score of 20 points within one competition.

Other notable ski jumpers can be found in the following lists:

- Winners of the FIS Ski Jumping World Cup

- Winners of Olympic Winter Games / Ski Jumping

- Winners of Nordic World Ski Championships / Ski Jumping

- Winners of the Four Hill Jumping

Male

for the 2002 Winter Olympics]] , Russia]]

{| class="wikitable" |+Currently active !Country !Flag !Name |- |rowspan=5|Austria |rowspan=5| |Martin Koch |- |Andreas Kofler |- |Gregor Schlierenzauer |- |Thomas Morgenstern |- |Wolfgang Loitzl |- |rowspan=6|Czech Republic |rowspan=6| |Jakub Janda |- |Roman Koudelka |- |Borek Sedlak |- |Jan Matura |- |Antonin Hajek |- |Lukas Hlava |- |rowspan=7|Finland |rowspan=7| |Janne Ahonen |- |Janne Happonen |- |Matti Hautamäki |- |Arttu Lappi |- |Ville Larinto |- |Veli-Matti Lindström |- |Harri Olli |- |rowspan=6|Germany |rowspan=6| |Michael Neumayer |- |Martin Schmitt |- |Georg Späth |- |Michael Uhrmann |- |Andreas Wank |- |Pascal Bodmer |- |rowspan=5|Japan |rowspan=5| |Noriaki Kasai |- |Takanobu Okabe |- |Kazuyoshi Funaki |- |Daiki Ito |- |Shohei Tochimoto |- |rowspan=4|Korea |rowspan=4| |Choi Heung-Chul |- |Choi Yong-Jik |- |Kim Hyun-Ki |- |Kang Chil-Gu |- |rowspan=8|Norway |rowspan=8| |Tom Hilde |- |Anders Jacobsen |- |Roar Ljøkelsøy |- |Bjørn Einar Romøren |- |Sigurd Pettersen |- |Anders Bardal |- |Vegard Sklett |- |Johan Remen Evensen |- |rowspan=3|Poland |rowspan=3| |Adam Małysz |- |Kamil Stoch |- |Stefan Hula |- |rowspan=4|Slovenia |rowspan=4| |Robert Kranjec |- |Jernej Damjan |- |Primož Peterka |- |Rok Urbanc |- |rowspan=3|Switzerland |rowspan=3| |Andreas Küttel |- |Simon Ammann |- |Walter Steiner |- |rowspan=2|Russia |rowspan=2| |Denis Kornilov |- |Dimitry Vassiliev |- |rowspan=1|France |rowspan=1| |Emmanuel Chedal |- |rowspan=1|USA |rowspan=1| |Nicholas Alexander |- |}

Female

Anette Sagen Eva Ganster Lindsey Van Jessica Jerome Daniela Iraschko Coline Mattel Anna Hafele Magdalena Schnurr Ulrike Grässler Line Jahr Jacqueline Seifriedsberger

Unsuccessful

/ Vinko Bogataj - Best known as "The Agony of Defeat man" because of the constant use of footage of his spectacular tumble in the title sequence of ABC's Wide World of Sports Eddie "The Eagle" Edwards - Popular favourite at the 1988 Winter Olympics

Important venues

, in Planica, Slovenia]]

;Ski jumping World Cup Engelberg, Switzerland Harrachov, Czech Republic Kranj, Slovenia Kulm, Austria Kuusamo, Finland Liberec, Czech Republic Planica, Slovenia Predazzo, Italy Sapporo, Japan Pragelato, Italy Trondheim (Granåsen), Norway Vikersund (Vikersundbakken), Norway Villach, Austria Willingen, Germany Zakopane, Poland ;Four Hills Tournament Oberstdorf, Germany Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany Innsbruck (Bergisel), Austria Bischofshofen, Austria

;Nordic Tournament Lahti, Finland Kuopio (Puijo), Finland Lillehammer (Lysgårdsbakkene), Norway Oslo (Holmenkollbakken), Norway

National records

{| class="wikitable" |- | style="background:#efefef;" | Rank | style="background:#efefef;" | Nation | style="background:#efefef;" | Record holder | style="background:#efefef;" | Length |- | 1. | | Bjørn Einar Romøren | |- | 2. | | Simon Ammann | |- | 3. | | Antonin Hajek | |- | 4. | | Matti Hautamäki | |- | 5. | | Gregor Schlierenzauer | |- | 6. | | Robert Kranjec | |- | 7. | | Dimitri Vassiliev | |- | 8. | | Michael Neumayer | |- | 9. | | Adam Małysz | |- | 10. | | Noriaki Kasai | |- | 11. | | Alan Alborn | |- | 12. | | Emmanuel Chedal | |- | 13. | | Roberto Cecon | |- | 14. | | Isak Grimholm | |- | 15. | | Petr Chaadaev | |- | 16. | | Radik Zhaparov | |- | 17. | | Martin Mesik | |- | 18. | | Jens Salumäe | |- | 19. | | Stefan Read | |- | 20. | | Choi Heung-Chul | |- | 21. | | Vitaliy Shumbarets | |- | 22. | | Petar Fartunov | |- | 23. | | Christoph Kreuzer | |- | 24. | | Gabor Geller | |- | 25. | | Baris Demirci | |- | 26. | | Dmitry Chvykov | |- | 27. | | Florin Spulber | |- | 28. | | Tian Zhandong | |- | 29. | | Glynn Pedersen | |- | 30. | | Kakhaber Tsakadze | |- | 31. | | Filipciuc Ivan | |- | 32. | | Mark Wayne Evans | |}

Water ski jumping

The ski jump is performed on two long skis similar to those a beginner uses, with a specialized tailfin that is somewhat shorter and much wider (so it will support the weight of the skier when he is on the jump ramp). Skiers towed behind a boat at fixed speed, maneuver to achieve the maximum speed when hitting a ramp floating in the water, launching themselves into the air with the goal of traveling as far as possible before touching the water. Professional ski jumpers can travel up to . The skier must successfully land and retain control of the ski rope to be awarded the distance.

An extreme version of this sport named Ski Flying was promoted by Scot Ellis and Jim Cara, in which boat speeds and ramp heights are boosted because physics have proved that the standard line and traditional boat speed is outrun by the skier and the pro skier was ahead of the boat, being held back by the line.

See also

Four Hills Tournament

Freestyle skiing

Medicinernes Skiklub Svartor

Skiing and Skiing Topics

Ski jumping at the Winter Olympics

Ski jumping World Cup

Notes

External links

skijumping.de - Biggest German website about ski jumping

skijumpingcentral.com A great English language ski jumping resource

Olympic Ski Jumping History

World's longest ski jump Bjørn Einar Romøren video

International Ski Federation Scoring, rules, measurement of jumps, etc can be found here.

Norge Ski Club / Training area The oldest ski jumping club in the United States.

Category:Individual sports Category:Olympic sports Category:Winter sports *