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Ski jumping
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Ski jumping is a sport in which skiers go down an "inrun" with a take-off ramp (the jump), attempting to go as far as possible. In addition to the length that skiers 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 inrun, plastic on the landing hill).
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Encyclopedia
Ski jumping is a sport in which skiers go down an "inrun" with a take-off ramp (the jump), attempting to go as far as possible. In addition to the length that skiers 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 inrun, plastic on the landing hill). The most notable ski jumpers to day are Jens Weissflog, Matti Nykänen, and Janne Ahonen. Gregor Schlierenzauer is considered as the most dominant ski jumper currently active.
History
Ski jumping originates from 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 travelling longer. The first proper competition was held in Trysil in 1862. The first widely known ski jumping competition was the Husebyrennene, held in Oslo from 1879. 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 have two jumps each.
Ski jumping is one of the 2 elements in the Nordic combined sport.
Summer Jumping
Ski jumping can also be performed on the summer on a porcelain track and plast grass combined with water. There are also many competitions during the summer. The World Cup (Summer Grand Prix) often includes those hills:
Skijumping Fis-Cup and Continental Cup also have summer competitions and even more than the World Cup.
Women's ski jumping
Currently, women ski jump internationally in the Continental cup. On May 26, 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 November 28, 2006, the proposal 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.
Currently there are over 135 athletes competing on an international level, which is more than snowcross and ski cross. Jacques Rogge, president of the International Olympic Committee states that they do not allow women ski jumpers in the Olympics 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. Meanwhile, the current record holder on Vancouver's Olympic hill is US female jumper Lindsey Van. However this hill record was set with more inrun speed and with more wind than the men competed with. These two differences are a considerable advantage in ski jumping.
Scoring
The winner is decided on a scoring system based on distance and style.
Each hill has a target called the calculation point (or K 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 1.8 points for every metre (3 ft) they miss the mark by, depending on if they surpass it or fall short, respectively.
In addition, five judges are based in a tower that lies to the side of the expected landing point. They can award up to 20 points 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 middle three scores added to the distance score. In the individual event, the scores from each skier's two competition jumps are combined to determine the winner.
Technique
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 V-style technique was developed in 1985.
The skiers have 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. Otherwise the style points will be reduced.
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 (with consistently strong teams) are Finland, Norway, Germany (as well as the former East and West Germany), Austria, Poland, 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, is very popular and draws huge crowds.
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.
Notable ski jumpers
Notable unsuccessful ski jumpers
Notable female ski jumpers
Important venues
Ski jumping World Cup
Engelberg, Switzerland
Harrachov, Czech Republic
Kranj, Slovenia
Kulm, Austria
Kuusamo, Finland
Liberec, Czech Republic
Planica, Slovenia
Predazzo, Italy
Sapporo, Japan
Turin, 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 (Holmenkollen), Norway
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 . 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. The 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 a 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 will be organised in Planica, and in 2012 the FIS World Championships will take place in Vikersund, Norway.
National records
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
External links
- - everything about ski jumping
- A great English language ski jumping resource
-
- Bjørn Einar Romøren video
- Scoring, rules, measurement of jumps, etc can be found here.
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