Ski Jumping

A jump from the hill can be divided into four main steps:

• In-run
• Takeoff
• Flight
• Landing

Ski jumping has seen tremendous changes in the last hundred years. Through the development of new techniques and styles, jumpers have been able to reach greater and greater distances. Sondre Norheim, a Norwegian, is considered the father of modern ski jumping. In 1866, he won what is called the first prize ski jumping competition in Ofte, Høydalsmo, Norway. After World War I, Thulin Thams and Sigmund Ruud developed a new jumping technique called the ‘Kongsberger technique’. In this technique, the jump is made with the body bent forwards at the hips, with the arms extended above the head and the skis parallel. Using this technique, Austrian Sepp Bradl was the first to jump over 100 metres in 1936. In the mid-1950s, Switzerland’s Andreas Daescher was the first to extend his arms backwards along the torso, with the body even more forwards. In 1985, Sweden's Jan Bokloev introduced a new ‘V-shaped’ ski jumping technique, which was initially perplexing but was adopted by all Olympic medalists in 1992.

Ski jumping debuted on the Olympic programme at the 1924 Games in Chamonix with the men's large ski jump. The men's small ski jump was introduced in 1964 in Innsbruck, followed by the men's team event in Calgary 1988, the women's small ski jump in Sochi 2014, and the mixed team event in Beijing 2022. An individual women's large hill event and the men’s super team will be introduced at Milano Cortina 2026.

In the individual events, each athlete makes two jumps and only the top 30 athletes make the second jump. In the men’s super team competition, each country lines up two athletes divided into two groups. The event consists of three jumps. After the first jump, only the top 12 teams make the second jump, while the top 8 make the final jump. In the mixed team event, each country picks two women and two men. The event consists of two jumps and the athletes are divided into 4 groups. After the first jump, the top eight teams participate in the final jump. In all disciplines, points are awarded based on the length and style of the jump, evaluated by judges.