The Exciting Olympic Event Of Ski Jumping
What is Ski Jumping?
Ski jumping is a sport where the athlete skis down an inrun with a take-off ramp, which is the jump and trying to travel as far as possible. The skier is measured based ON length and style. The skis used are quite wide and long. (260 to 275 centrimetres).
Ski Jumping Olympic Event History
Ski jumping is one of the first ski competition events. Norway held winter celebration events that included ski jumping competitions starting as early as the 1870s and ski jumping was included in the first Winter Olympic Games in Chamonix in 1924.
Since the sport started in Norway and it's no surprise that the Norwegians won every gold medal and five bronze medals in the Olympic Winter Games from 1924 to 1952.
The large hill competition was introduced at the Innsbruck 1964 Winter Games.
The Evolution of the V-style Position
With the great desire to jump further, in 1985 V-style was innovated and where the skier holds his skis in a V-shaped position (instead of parallel) while in the air. The Swedish ski jumper, Jan Boklov and created this style; albeit and it was not favourable accepted at first. Most other skiers laughed at Boklov and he was penalized for his eccentric style. It seems that Boklov was miles ahead of his time and as a closer investigation proved that the V-style produced 28 per cent more lift.
How Ski Jumping Works?
The skier skis down a long ramp, known as in-run and then launches OFF into the air at speeds of up to 95 kilometres per hour. A very well-timed takeoff is determined by the athlete's technique. After the takeoff and flight takes place and then landing. If the skier lands beyond the K point and it is considered dangerous and points are Lost based ON how far beyond this point the skier landed.
The scoring is based not just ON the length and but also the style of the jump.
- The length score is calculated from the K point. A jump up to the K point is awarded 60 points. Each metre beyond in multiplied by 1.2 for the large ramp and x2 for the normal ramp.
- The style score is determined by 5 judges awarding a score out of 20. The highest and lowest scores are ignored and the middle three are added together. Points from the jumps are used as time advantages for the cross country race.
Types of Ski Jumping Events in the Olympics
- Individual Normal Hill Event: Beginning before the day of the competition and the normal hill individual event starts with a qualification jump. The 15 best ski jumpers from the World Cup are pre-selected and are not required to participate in the qualification event. All other skiers must be in the top 35 to qualify. ON the day of the event and there are two sets of jumps. The first set has 50 skiers (15 pre-qualified and 35 qualified) and the best 35 from this set will go to the final round. The second set starts with the lower performing athletes starting first and the top ski jumpers for the end.
- Individual Large Hill Event: With the exception of the event being ON the large hill and this event follows the same format as the normal hill individual event.
- Team Large Hill Event: In this event and a team is made up of four members and there are two competition sets. In the first set and one team member from each team jumps. Then and the second team member from each team jumps. Then the third and followed by the fourth. In the second set and only the top eight teams from the first set compete. As in the individual events and the lower performing skiers START and the best skiers go last. The team with the best total score over all eight jumps wins.
Ski Jumping in the 2010 Whistler Olympics
The ski jumping event is scheduled to be in the 2010 Winter Olympics starting February 12th to 22nd, 2010. The competition will be held in the brand new Whistler Olympic Park in Callaghan Valley located 18 kilometres southwest of Whistler ON the Sea to Sky highway.
Devon O'Malley is a staff writer for Allura Direct and a travel website offering powerful search and instant booking features for vacation rentals in Whistler and other popular mountain resorts. Check out the 2010 Whistler Olympic events and book your Whistler vacation rentals today!
