More high tech in ski jumping

The ski jumpers will continue to fly through the air according to traditional rules in V-style and receive marks for their jumps from the 5 judges.

Much to the delight of spectators and athletes alike.

However, high-tech is increasingly being used to measure the athletes' suits and other competition equipment.

Thanks to modern technologies, the measurements are more accurate and transparent and can be taken more precisely and quickly during competitions.

High tech on the rise in ski jumping
At the fall meetings of the FIS experts in Zurich this week, the use of NFC chips in ski jumping suits was decided, among other things.
Background: Each jump suit is made up of several individual parts, these suits or the individual parts will be equipped with NFC chips for the first time at the World Cup and all other major events (World Championships, Olympic Games) from next winter.

This means that for the first time it will be possible to limit the number of suits per athlete and season.
In the past, each athlete was allowed to use an unlimited number of suits per weekend and during the season.

In the past, over 100 suits could theoretically have been used by an athlete during a season.
However, due to limited budgets, athletes from smaller nations were restricted to a much smaller number of suits.

FIS Race Director Sandro Pertile satisfied

“It has long been a very important concern for the teams and for us that we manage to reduce the number of suits. It's about equality of opportunity and of course also about reducing costs and sustainability.
This is now possible with the use of chips, which we are very pleased about.
Of course, we still need to gain experience with the new technology in competition mode, but that is part of the process,” explains FIS Race Director Sandro Pertile.

In future, each athlete will only be allowed to use one suit per competition. Depending on where and how often the athletes compete, a maximum of between 2 suits (for example, if an athlete only takes part in one event in winter) and 10 suits (if an athlete takes part in all World Cups and the World Championships) may be used in the coming season.

Background FIS Ski Jumping Committees

The FIS ski jumping experts met in Zürich (SUI) this week, as they do every fall.

There are 5 sub-committees in ski jumping (equipment, officials, hill construction, youth) and the superordinate ski jumping committee.
New strategies, rule changes and adjustments etc. are discussed in the subcommittees based on proposals from the national ski federations and the FIS and, if approved, submitted to the Ski Jumping Committee for a decision,

The Ski Jumping Committee then decides on any changes and submits these to the FIS Coordination Board, which then makes the final decision on whether the proposal/change is implemented.

Each FIS Ski Jumping Subcommittee and the Ski Jumping Committee is made up of ski jumping experts from the various nations and is headed by a chairman. From this year, for example, the chairman of the equipment committee is the former DSV national women's coach, Andreas Bauer.

The Ski Jumping Committee is chaired by Finland's legendary coach Mika Kojonkoski.

The other sub-committee chairmen are:

Harald Haim (AUT) Youth and children
Dr. Ivo Greger (CZE) Officials, rules and control
Hans-Martin Renn (GER) Jumping Hills
Mario Stecher (AUT) Calendar Planning

Experience from the summer is already being taken into account

At the meeting in the fall, the first results of the tests in the summer, i.e. from the competitions as part of the FIS Grand Prix, are already available.

This is another reason why the Grand Prix is particularly important for ski jumpers: many innovations are tested during the summer and then used in the World Cup at the start of the winter.