SKI JUMPING

Rules
As well as pure distance every competitor is marked on style, with the landing especially important. There are also two main categories: the 90m hill and the 120m hill, with the latter giving the skier more distance.

History
The first recorded ski jump took place in Trysil, Norway in 1862. Distances were usually short - around 30m - and competitors either took off from outcrops of rock or primitive wooden ski jumps. After the First World War the distances jumped tripled in size as Norwegians Thulin Thams and Sigmund Ruud introduced the Kongsberger technique - upper body bent at the hips, arms stretched out in front of the body and chest pushed forward. Later competitors began leaning further forward with their hands behind their back and finally in 1985 jumpers started adopting the 'V' position with their bodies fully forward and the front of their ski spread as far apart as possible.

Random fact
'V' style jumping gives 28 per cent more lift than traditional parallel style.

The lowdown

• In 1994 Austrian Andreas Goldberger became the first person to break the 200m barrier recording a jump of 202m.
• Unlike Alpine skiing where top athletes peak in their late twenties and early thirties the best ski jumpers in the world are often as young as 15.
• Better engineered slopes mean ski jumpers are never more than 4-6m off the ground at any stage during their jump.
• Ski jumping became part of the FIS World Cup Tour in 1979. The strongest ski jumping nations are Austria, Finland, Germany, Japan and Norway.