Winter sports by their nature are exciting and invariably combine speed, height and snow or ice. But ski jumping is about as crazy as they come, with competitors reaching speeds of up to 96.56kph before take-off – it’s as close to flying as you'll get.
1809...
It goes without saying that the first chap to strap two planks to his feet and hurl himself off a ski jump in 1809 would be a brave man. Norwegian lieutenant Olaf Rye is the sport's founding father, courageously recording a distance of 9.5m with his first jump. Rye was a man of considerable prestige on the battlefield and played a decisive, but ultimately fatal, role in the 1849 Battle of Frederica, which claimed the lives of more than 600 men. But enough about Rye’s heroics. By 1860, compatriot Sondre Norheim – a pioneer of ski jumping – had jumped 30m over a rock – a record which stood for three decades. The first competition was held in 1862 but it was another 74 years until Austrian Sepp Bradl became the first man to clear 100m when he jumped 101m in 1936.
60...
Today, ski jumping competitions are held on three types of hill – normal, large and sky flying – with the winner decided on a scoring system based on distance and style. Each hill has a K-Point, the distance from the take-off point that is equal to the height of the hill. So, if the hill is 90m high, the K point is at 90m. A mathematical formula is used to add points for each additional metre jumpers go beyond the K-Point, or to subtract points if they come up short. Each of five judges can award up to 20 points for style. The best and worst style scores are discarded with the remaining three added to the distance total. The competitor with the best combined score after two jumps is the winner. Simple?
18...
The first ski jumping World Cup was held over the 1979/80 season, with Austria's Toni Innauer crowned overall champion. The 2009/10 campaign starts in Kuusamo, Finland and concludes in Oslo, Norway in March after 18 gruelling rounds. Most World Cup events take place on the large hill with only a handful of normal hill competitions occurring throughout the season. Gregor Schlierenzauer, 19, is the reigning champion. After his first three seasons as a pro, Schlieri has already amassed 24 career wins - 41 podium finishes in all. Last season, he equalled Janne Ahonen’s record of 12 wins in one campaign and is undoubtedly the man to watch this year.
147m...
13...
While Schlierenzauer is the current ski jumping superstar, he’s still got some way to go to match Finland’s Matti Nykanen – the all-time most successful World Cup ski jumper, with four overall titles, one second-placed finish and 46 individual wins to his name. Oh, and he also has five Olympic medals (four golds) and nine World Championship medals (five golds) in a ridiculously large trophy cabinet. That’s 13 titles across the Olympic Games, World Championships and World Cup. He’s long retired, though. Which is just as well for everyone else.
239m...
If you thought ski jumping was extreme, how about sky flying? And, if you thought Schlierenzauer’s 147m hill record in Kuusamo was big, how about the ski flying world record of 239m? Sky flying events take place on hill with a K-Point of at least 185m, of which there are five in the world today. Jumps of over 200m after commonplace in ski flying competitions. The world record is a massive 239m (or 780ft) which was set by Norwegian Bjorn Einar Romoren at Planica, Slovenia – the biggest hill out there – in 2005. Finn Ahonen surpassed that by just one metre at the same competition but the record was not recognised as Ahonen fell when he landed. Ouch.
For more on ski jumping, visit the FIS's official website.
.JPG "Morgi in the gym")
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