Ski Jumping History

Ski Jumping 1905 and 1936

Like all modern types of Nordic skiing, ski jumping originated in Norway. The first major ski event was the 1879 competition which took place at the Husebybakken in Oslo. In 1892, the competition moved to the Holmenkollen, which is still regarded as the Mecca of Nordic winter sports. Ski jumping has been, since the first Winter Games in 1924, part of the Olympic program.

The technique of ski-jumping has changed significantly over the decades. The technical revolution, the last time being in the early 1990s, was when the flight style interspersed with V-shaped splayed skis (V-style) over the Parallelstil. The new style, first practiced by the Swede Jan Boklov, allowed the improved aerodynamics to significantly add more jumps.

Originally Boklov had high points deductions for the purchase of aviation technology, but the much higher distance achieved top rankings. Later, Springer took all this technology. Even during the landing there is a particular style applied, known as the “Telemark”.

The Telemark, named after the Norwegian province of Telemark, is a kind of lunge, in which the back leg is bent significantly lower than the front leg. The so-called Kacherllandung, also known as Parallellandung, is when the skis are parallel and flush with the front, often performed for safety reasons by the jumpers over very large distances. These however are rated significantly worse.

Weitenrekorde

The improvements in technology, equipment and training concepts have resulted in the sport, as is typical, recording a rapid development. The first statistically detained Weitenrekord of 1879 was 23m. Until 1927 only Norwegians had improved on the Weitenrekord, then the Swiss Bruno Trojani broke the world record with 72m. In 1936 there was the first jump over 100 meters by the Austrian Sepp Bradl (101m).

In 1962, the world record by Peter Lesser was 141m, 1965 it improved to 145 meters. 1967 saw a jump of 150m by the Norwegian Lars Grini. The first flight over 200 meters was succeeded in 1994 by Toni Nieminen (Finland) at 203m. Andreas Goldberger (Austria) achieved this breadth on the same day slightly earlier, but the jump was seen as fallen, as Goldberger took upon landing in the snow.

That being said, there were officially at this time no such flights. For safety reasons, the FIS had decided in 1984 to limit flights to 192 meters. So that each flight was evaluated on the mark at 192 meters. By the mid-1990s, this restriction was lifted.

The current world record is 239m, on 20th March 2005 by Bjorn Einar Romoren (Norway) on the day the world’s largest ski flying hill in Planica, Slovenia was established. Janne Ahonen (Finland) jumped 240 meters in the same competition with an even greater width, but in doing so, he fell. The women’s 200 meters world record was set by the Austrian Daniela Iraschko at Kulm.