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 (240 to 270 cm). 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).

Contents 1 History 2 Competition 2.1 Women's ski jumping 3 Scoring 4 Technique 5 Popularity 6 Notable ski jumpers 6.1 Currently active 6.2 Notable unsuccessful ski jumpers 6.3 Notable female ski jumpers 7 Important venues 7.1 Ski jumping World Cup 7.1.1 Four Hills Tournament 7.1.2 Nordic Tournament 8 Ski flying 8.1 National records 9 Water ski jumping 10 See also 11 References 12 External links

[edit] History

Ski jumping originates from Morgedal, Norway, but 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 ever since.

[edit] 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 80-100m. Distances of up to and over 110 metres can be reached.
• Large hill competitions:- for which the calculation line is found at approximately 120-130m. Distances of over 145 m 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 185 m. The Ski Flying World Record is currently held by Bjørn Einar Romøren (239m), set in Planica (SLO) 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 two elements in the Nordic combined sport.

[edit] 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 to allow women to compete at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.^[1] 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.^[2] Currently there are 135+ athlete competing on an international level, which is more than snowcross, ski cross, bobsleigh, skeleton, and luge^{[citation needed]}. Jacques Rogge, president of the International Olympic Committee states that they don't allow women ski jumpers in the Olympics because "We do not want the medals to be diluted and watered down."^{[citation needed]} Meanwhile, the current record holder on Vancouver's 90m Olympic hill is US female jumper Lindsey Van. It is against Federal and Provincial Law in Canada to use taxpayers money to fund for facilities that discriminate. Canada used taxpayers' money to build the Olympic Jumps in Vancouver.

[edit] 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. This point is marked by the K line on the landing strip. For K90 and K120 competitions, the K line is at 90 m and 120 m respectively. Skiers are awarded 60 points if they land on the K Line. For every metre short/beyond this average, jumpers receive fewer/more points than the par 60 (1.8 points per metre).

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 final score consists of the distance score plus the middle three style scores from the judges (the highest and lowest scores are ignored). For the individual event, the jumper with the best combined total from his two jumps is the winner.

[edit] 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 percent 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 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 would be 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.

[edit] 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 (formerly both East and West), 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 practising 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.

[edit] Notable ski jumpers

[edit] Currently active

Austria Martin Höllwarth Martin Koch Andreas Kofler Wolfgang Loitzl Thomas Morgenstern Gregor Schlierenzauer Andreas Widhölzl Czech Republic Jakub Janda Roman Koudelka

Finland Janne Happonen Matti Hautamäki Arttu Lappi Veli-Matti Lindström Harri Olli Germany Michael Neumayer Martin Schmitt Georg Späth Michael Uhrmann Japan Noriaki Kasai Takanobu Okabe

Norway Lars Bystøl Tom Hilde Anders Jacobsen Roar Ljøkelsøy Bjørn Einar Romøren Sigurd Pettersen Anders Bardal Poland Stefan Hula, Jr. Adam Małysz Robert Mateja Klemens Murańka Kamil Stoch Tomislaw Tajner

Slovenia Robert Kranjec Jernej Damjan Primož Peterka Switzerland Simon Ammann Andreas Küttel Russia Denis Kornilov Dimitry Vassiliev

[edit] Notable unsuccessful ski jumpers

• Vinko Bogataj - Best known as "The Agony of Defeat" because 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

[edit] Notable female ski jumpers

• Anette Sagen (Norway)
• Eva Ganster (Austria)
• Lindsey Van (USA)
• Jessica Jerome (USA)
• Daniela Iraschko (Austria)

[edit] Important venues

[edit] Ski jumping World Cup

• Engelberg, Switzerland
• Harrachov, Czech Republic
• Kulm, Austria
• Kuusamo, Finland
• Liberec, Czech Republic
• Planica, Slovenia
• Sapporo, Japan
• Trondheim (Granåsen), Norway
• Vikersund (Vikersundbakken), Norway
• Willingen, Germany
• Zakopane, Poland
• Kranj, Slovenia

[edit] Four Hills Tournament

• Oberstdorf, Germany
• Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany
• Innsbruck (Bergisel), Austria
• Bischofshofen, Austria

[edit] Nordic Tournament

• Lahti, Finland
• Kuopio (Puijo), Finland
• Lillehammer (Lysgårdsbakkene), Norway
• Oslo (Holmenkollen), Norway

[edit] 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 185 meters. There are five ski flying hills in the world today. Vikersundbakken in Vikersund, Norway; Oberstdorf, Germany; Kulm, Austria; Letalnica; Planica, Slovenia; and in 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. [1] The biggest hill is in Planica, where all the longest ski jumps have taken place. It's possible to fly more than 200 meters in all the ski flying hills, and the current World Record is 239 meters, set by Norwegian Bjørn Einar Romøren in Planica 2005. The longest jump ever was 240 meters long, achieved by Janne Ahonen at the same competition, but it is not recognized as a record because Ahonen fell when he landed. Since 1972 there's been a Ski flying World Championship every other year.

[edit] National records

Rank	Nation	Record holder	Length
1.	Norway	Bjørn Einar Romøren	239 meters
2.	Finland	Matti Hautamäki	235.5 meters
3.	Austria	Gregor Schlierenzauer	233.5 meters
4.	Slovenia	Robert Kranjec	229 meters
5.	Russia	Dimitri Vassiliev	228 meters
6.	Germany	Michael Neumayer	227.5 meters
7.	Poland	Adam Małysz	225 meters
8.	Japan	Daiki Ito	222.5 meters
9.	Switzerland	Andreas Küttel	222 meters
10.	United States	Alan Alborn	221.5 meters
11.	Czech Republic	Antonin Hajek	219 meters
12.	France	David Lazzaroni	212 meters
13.	Italy	Roberto Cecon	207.5 meters
14.	Sweden	Isak Grimholm	207.5 meters
15.	Belarus	Petr Chaadaev	197.5 meters
16.	Kazakhstan	Radik Zhaparov	196.5 meters
17.	Slovakia	Martin Mesik	195.5 meters
18.	Estonia	Jens Salumae	195 meters
19.	Canada	Stefan Read	191.5 meters
20.	South Korea	Heung Chul Choi	191 meters
21.	Ukraine	Oleksander Lasarovich	178.5 meters
22.	Netherlands	Christoph Kreuzer	162 meters
23.	Hungary	Gabor Geller	139 meters
24.	Turkey	Baris Demirci	123 meters
25.	Kyrgyzstan	Dmitry Chvykov	122 meters
26.	China	Zhandong Tian	121.5 meters
27.	Romania	Florin Spulber	118 meters
28.	Bulgaria	Petar Fartunov	116.5 meters
29.	United Kingdom	Glynn Pedersen	113.5 meters
30.	Georgia	Kakhaber Tsakadze	105 meters
31.	Croatia	Josip Sporer	102 meters
32.	Denmark	Andreas Bjelke Nygaard	100.5 meters
33.	Iceland	Skarphedinn Gudmundsson	64 meters
34.	Australia	Hal Nerdal	53 meters
35.	Latvia	Kristaps Laganovski	52 meters
36.	Uganda	Dunstan Odeke	50 meters
37.	Ireland	Richard Brown	35 meters

[edit] 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, manoeuver to achieve the maximum speed when hitting a ramp floating in the water, launching themselves into the air with the goal of travelling as far as possible before touching the water. Professional ski jumpers can travel up to 70 metres. 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 75ft line and traditional 35mph boat speed is outrun by the skier and the pro skier was ahead of the boat, being held back by the line.

[edit] See also

• Skiing and Skiing Topics
• Ski jumping World Cup
• Freestyle skiing
• Ski jumping at the Winter Olympics

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• eSkijumping.com - everything 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