Ski jumping is awinter sport in which competitors aim to achieve the farthest jump after sliding down on theirskis from a specially designed curvedramp. Along with jump length, competitor's aerial style and other factors also affect the final score. Ski jumping was first contested in Norway in the late 19th century, and later spread through Europe and North America in the early 20th century. Along withcross-country skiing, it constitutes the traditional group ofNordic skiing disciplines.[1]
Theski jumping venue, commonly referred to as ahill, consists of the jumping ramp (in-run), take-off table, and a landing hill. Each jump is evaluated according to the distance covered and the style performed. The distance score is related to theconstruction point (also known as theK-point), which is a line drawn in the landing area and serves as a "target" for the competitors to reach.[2]
The score of each judge evaluating the style can reach a maximum of 20 points. Thejumping technique has evolved over the years, from jumps with the skis parallel and both arms extended forward, to the "V-style", which is widely used today.
Ski jumping has been included at theWinter Olympics since 1924 and at theFIS Nordic World Ski Championships since 1925. Women's participation in the sport began in the 1990s, while the first women's event at the Olympics has been held in 2014. All major ski jumping competitions are organised by theInternational Ski Federation.
Ski jumping is not limited to winter conditions and can also be practiced during the summer months, thanks to specially designed facilities that simulate the snowy environment. In summer ski jumping, the in-run — which is the part of the hill where the jumper gains speed before takeoff — is constructed with tracks made from smooth porcelain materials.. The highest level summer competition is theFIS Ski Jumping Grand Prix, contested since 1994.
Like most of theNordic skiing disciplines, the first ski jumping competitions were held inNorway in the 19th century, although there is evidence of ski jumping in the late 18th century. The recorded origins of the first ski jump trace back to 1808, whenOlaf Rye reached 9.5 m (31 ft).Sondre Norheim, who is regarded as the "father" of the modern ski jumping, won the first-ever ski jumping competition with prizes, which was held inHøydalsmo in 1866.
The first larger ski jumping competition was held onHusebyrennet hill inOslo, Norway, in 1875. Due to its poor infrastructure and the weather conditions, in 1892 the event was moved toHolmenkollen, which is today still one of the main ski jumping events in the season.
In the late 19th century, Sondre Norheim and Nordic skierKarl Hovelsen immigrated to the United States and started developing the sport in that country. In 1924, ski jumping was featured at the1924 Winter Olympics inChamonix, France. The sport has been featured at every Olympics since.
Ski jumping was brought to Canada by Norwegian immigrantNels Nelsen. Starting with his example in 1915 until late 1959, annual ski jumping competitions were held on Mount Revelstoke — the ski hill Nelsen designed — the longest period of any Canadian ski jumping venue. Revelstoke's was the biggest natural ski jump hill in Canada and internationally recognized as one of the best in North America. The length and natural grade of its 600 m (2,000 ft) hill made possible jumps of over 60 m (200 ft)—the longest in Canada. It was also the only hill in Canada where world ski jumping records were set, in 1916, 1921, 1925, 1932, and 1933.[3]
In 1935, the origins ofski flying began inPlanica, Slovenia, whereJosef Bradl became the first competitor in history to jump over 100 m (330 ft). At the same venue, the first official jump over 200 m (660 ft) was achieved in 1994, whenToni Nieminen landed at 203 meters.[4]
Model of a ski jumping hill.A-B – point of departure;t – take-off zone;HS – total hill length;P-L – landing area;K – K-point
A ski jumping hill is typically built on a steep natural slope. It consists of the jumping ramp (in-run), take-off table, and a landing hill. Competitors glide down from a common point at the top of the in-run, achieving considerable speeds at the take-off table, where they take off, carried by their own momentum. While airborne, they maintain an aerodynamic position with their bodies and skis, which allows them to maximise the length of their jump. The landing slope is constructed so that the jumper's trajectory is near-parallel with it, and the athlete's relative height to the ground is gradually lost, allowing for a gentle and safe landing. The landing space is followed by anout-run, a substantial flat or counter-inclined area that permits the skier to safely slow down.[5] The out-run area is fenced and surrounded by a public auditorium.
The slopes are classified according to the distance that the competitors travel in the air, between the end of the table and the landing. Each hill has aconstruction point (K-point), which serves as a "target" that the competitors should reach. The classification of the hills are as follows:[6]
Competitors are ranked according to a numerical score obtained by adding up components based on distance, style, inrun length (gate factor) and wind conditions. In the individual event, the scores from each skier's two competition jumps are combined to determine the winner.
Distance score depends on the hill's K-point. For K-90 and K-120 competitions, the K-point is set at 90 meters and 120 meters, respectively. Competitors are awarded 60 points (normal and large hills) and 120 points (flying hills) if they land on the K-point. For every meter beyond or below the K-point, extra points are awarded or deducted; the typical value is 2 points per meter in small hills, 1.8 points in large hills and 1.2 points in ski flying hills. A competitor's distance is measured between the takeoff and the point where the feet came in full contact with the landing slope (for abnormal landings, touchpoint of one foot, or another body part is considered). Jumps are measured with accuracy of 0.5 meters for all competitions.[7]: 64–65
Telemark landing
During the competition, five judges are based in a tower to the side of the expected landing point. They can award up to 20 points each for jumping style, based on keeping the skis steady during flight, balance, optimal body position, and landing. The highest and lowest style scores are disregarded, with the remaining three scores added to the distance score.[8]
Gate and wind factors were introduced by the 2009 rules, to allow fairer comparison of results for a scoring compensation for variable outdoor conditions. Aerodynamics and take-off speed are important variables that affect the jump length, and if weather conditions change during a competition, the conditions will not be the same for all competitors. Gate factor is an adjustment made when the inrun (or start gate) length is adjusted from the initial position in order to provide optimal take-off speed. Since higher gates result in higher take-off speeds, and therefore present an advantage to competitors, points are subtracted when the starting gate is moved up, and added when the gate is lowered. An advanced calculation also determines compensation points for the actual unequal wind conditions at the time of the jump; when there is back wind, points are added, and when there is front wind, points are subtracted. Wind speed and direction are measured at five different points based on average value, which is determined before every competition.[9]
If two or more competitors finish the competition with the same number of points, they are given the same placing and receive same prizes.[6]Ski jumpers below the minimum safe body mass index are penalised 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 maximise the distance they can achieve.[10] In order to prevent an unfair advantage due to a "sailing" effect of the ski jumping suit, material, thickness and relative size of the suit are regulated.[11]
Kongsberger technique, used in 1920s to 1950s.[12]
Each jump is divided into four parts: in-run, take-off (jump), flight, and landing.
By using theV-style, firstly pioneered by Swedish ski jumperJan Boklöv in the mid-1980s,[13] modern skiers are able to exceed the distance of the take-off hill by about 10% compared to the previous technique with parallel skis.[citation needed] Previous techniques included theKongsberger technique, theWindisch technique, and theDäscher technique.[13] Until the mid-1960s, the ski jumper came down the in-run of the hill with both arms pointing forwards. This changed when the Windisch technique was pioneered byErich Windisch in the 1949 as a modification of the Kongsberger technique, further modified in the 1950s by the Däscher technique (parallel style), pioneered byAndreas Däscher. A lesser-used technique as of 2017 is the H-style which is essentially a combination of the parallel and V-styles, in which the skis are spread very wide apart and held parallel in an "H" shape. It is prominently used byDomen Prevc.
Skiers are required to touch the ground in the Telemark landing style (Norwegian:telemarksnedslag), named after the Norwegian county ofTelemark. This involves the landing with one foot in front of the other with knees slightly bent, mimicking the style ofTelemark skiing. Failure to execute aTelemark landing leads to the deduction of style points, issued by the judges.[6][14]
The large hill ski jumping event was included at theWinter Olympic Games for the first time in1924, and has been contested at every Winter Olympics since then.[15] The normal hill event was added in1964. Since1992, the normal hill event is contested at the K-90 size hill; previously, it was contested at the K-60 hill.[15] Women's debuted at the Winter Olympics in2014.[16]
TheFIS Ski Jumping World Cup has been contested since the1979–80 season.[17] It runs between November and March every season, and consists of 25–30 competitions at most prestigious hills across Europe, United States and Japan. Competitors are awarded a fixed number of points in each event according to their ranking, and the overall winner is the one with most accumulated points.FIS Ski Flying World Cup is contested as a sub-event of the World Cup, and competitors collect only the points scored at ski flying hills from the calendar.
A ski jumper after landing on a hill equipped for summer events
The ski jumping at theFIS Nordic World Ski Championships was first contested in 1925. The team event was introduced in 1982, while the women's event was first held in 2009.
TheFour Hills Tournament has been contested since the 1952–53 season.[19] It is contested around the New Year's Day at four venues – two in Germany (Oberstdorf andGarmisch-Partenkirchen) and two in Austria (Innsbruck andBischofshofen), which are also scored for the World Cup. Those events are traditionally held in a slightly different format than other World Cup events (first round is held as a knockout event between 25 pairs of jumpers), and the overall winner is determined by adding up individual scores from every jump.
In January 1863 inTrysil Municipality, Norway, at that time 16 years old Norwegian Ingrid Olsdatter Vestby, became the first-ever known female ski jumper, who participated in the competition. Her distance is not recorded.[20]
In the2011–12 season, women competed for the first time in theWorld Cup. The first event was held on 3 December 2011 atLysgårdsbakken at normal hill inLillehammer, Norway. The first-ever female World Cup winner wasSarah Hendrickson,[23] who also became the inaugural women's World Cup overall champion.[24] Previously, women had only competed inContinental Cup seasons.
In 2006, the International Ski Federation proposed that women could compete at the2010 Winter Olympics,[28] but the proposal was rejected by theIOC because of the low number of athletes and participating countries at the time.[29]
A further milestone was reached when women's ski jumping was included as part of the2014 Winter Olympics at normal hill event. The first Olympic champion wasCarina Vogt.[16]
The all-time longest jump was achieved in Vikersund in 2017.
Since 1936, when the first jump beyond 100 metres (330 ft) was made, all world records in the sport have been made in the discipline ofski flying. On 30 March 2025 the official world record for the longest ski jump was set at 254.5 m (835 ft), byDomen Prevc atLetalnica bratov Gorišek inPlanica, Slovenia, and is the longest jump ever measured in an official competition. In a non-official event nearAkureyri onIceland, in April 2024Ryōyū Kobayashi achieved a distance of 291 m (955 ft) after 10 seconds in the air and landing smoothly. It was an unofficial world record which is not being counted as a ski flying world record by the FIS.[31]
Nika Prevc holds the women's world record at 236 metres (774 feet) which was set on 14 March 2025 inVikersundbakken.[32]
Sepp Bradl became the first ski jumper to surpass 100 meters in 1936.In 2003,Daniela Iraschko became the first ever female ski jumper in history to reach 200 meters.
The lists below show the progression of world records through history at 50-meter milestones. Only official results are listed, invalid jumps are not included.
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.Kazuyoshi Funaki,Sven Hannawald andWolfgang Loitzl were attributed 4x20 (plus another 19.5) style score points for their second jump, thus receiving nine times the maximum score of 20 points within one competition.Kazuyoshi Funaki is the only one in history who achieved this more than once. So far only eight jumpers are recorded to have achieved this score in total of eleven times:
Athletes like Sven Hannawald and Thomas Morgenstern[87] also talked openly about the mental pressure of the sport. Hannawald retired because ofoccupational burnout.[88]
^MacArthur, Paul J. (March–April 2011).Skiing Heritage Journal, p. 23, atGoogle Books. International Skiing History Association. Retrieved 22 May 2015.
^Luis Holuch:Die medial-historische Entwicklung des Damen-Skispringens: Medienberichterstattung und Historie im Fokus. Engelsdorfer Verlag, Leipzig 2017; ISBN 978-3-96008891-2, p. 215.
^""Wer aufgibt, hat verloren""(PDF) (in German). paraplegie - Das Magazin der Gönner-Vereinigung der Schweizer Paraplegiker-Stiftung No. 153 page 10. Retrieved2025-05-30.
^Erik Fløan und Rolf Bryhn (2019-12-12)."Rolf Åge Berg" (in Norwegian). Store norske leksikon. Retrieved2021-01-07.
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