Stefan Kraft has held the official world record of 253.5 m (832 ft) since 2017Ema Klinec has held the official women's world record at 226 m (741 ft) since 2023Dimitry Vassiliev holds the longest ever unofficial jump of 254 m (833 ft)Vikersundbakken in Vikersund, where all current official and unofficial world records stand
«...Fourth on the start was Gering. He was flying and flying, very high and landed in a perfect position. We all knew something extraordinary happened. People responsible for distance measuring didn't have numbers, they figured out little later that he landed at 118 metres. After WR, when extatic crowd finally calmed down, competition continued with Paul Schneidenbach who had landed at 101 metres, after him Hans Lahr landed at 111 metres, then after that Paul Krauß at 112 metres and the very last was Franz Maier who crashed at 109 metres.»
—Only two WRs set in Planica 1941 ("Jutro: Serija senzacij", p.1, column 4)[1]
Ski jumping is a winter sport in which athletes compete on distance and style in a jump from a ski jumping hill. The sport has traditionally focused on a combination of style and distance, and it was therefore early seen as unimportant in many milieus to have the longest jump.[2] The International Ski Federation (Fédération Internationale de Ski; FIS) has largely been opposed to the inflation in hill sizes and setting of distance records, and no world records have been set at Olympic, World Championship, Holmenkollen Ski Festival or Four Hills Tournament events, as these have never been among the largest hills in the world.
Since 1936, when the first jump beyond 100 metres (330 ft) was made, all world records in the sport have been made in the discipline of ski flying, an offshoot of ski jumping using larger hills where distance is explicitly emphasised. As of March 2017, the official world record for the longest ski jump is 253.5 m (832 ft), set by Stefan Kraft at Vikersundbakken in Vikersund, Norway. Two years prior, also in Vikersund, Dmitry Vassiliev reached 254 m (833 ft) but fell upon landing; his jump is unofficially the longest ever made.[3] As of March 2023, the women's world record stands at 226 m (741 ft), set by Ema Klinec also in Vikersund.
History
Ski jumping originated in Norway, and has been practiced since time immemorial, using handmade temporary hills.[4] The first record is credited to Olaf Rye, a Norwegian-Danish soldier, who set up a show spectated by his fellow soldiers in 1808, on an improvised hill of handmade piled snow, reaching 9.4 metres (15 alen) in Eidsberg, Norway. This artificial small hill was built at Lekum gård (farm), a few hundred metres away from Eidsberg church.[5]
Sondre Norheim, credited as the 'father' of modern skiing,[6] made the second official record at 19.5 metres (64 ft) in 1868. Tim Ashburn says in his book The History of Ski Jumping that Norheim's longest jump on the circular track in Haugli ground in 1868 should have been measured at 9.4 metres alen[7] but that newspapers in Christiania reported that the length "was a little exaggerated", so the official record is everywhere written as 19.5 m.
The sport quickly spread to Finland, the United States and Canada, where some of the subsequent records were set.[8] Early jumping competitions were only scored by style, and it was seen as disruptive to attempt to jump further.[2] Not until 1901 was a scoring system for distance introduced.[9] With the construction of Bloudkova Velikanka in Planica, Yugoslavia, in 1934,[10] the separate discipline of ski flying was introduced, which is essentially an 'extreme' version of ski jumping.
With one exception, all of the world records for distance have been set on five of the world's six ski flying hills, of which five remain in use.[11] In 1936, Josef "Sepp" Bradl was the first to surpass 100 metres (330 ft), landing a jump of 101.5 metres (333 ft).[12] The FIS was long opposed to ski flying as a whole, and it has never been included in the Olympic or Nordic World Ski Championships. However, since 1972, the FIS Ski Flying World Championships has been a mainstay event, and ski flying event are also part of the FIS Ski Jumping World Cup calendar. The first to officially reach 200 metres (660 ft) was Toni Nieminen in 1994, by landing a jump of 203 metres (666 ft); at the time, ski jumpers did not receive distance points for the part of the jumps exceeding 191 metres.[13]
The distance of a ski jump is measured from the end of the 'table' (the very tip of the 'inrun' ramp) to halfway between the athletes' feet when they touch ground. To qualify, the jump must be made in a sanctioned competition, or official trial or qualification runs for these, with a system to control the actual length. To win a competition, an athlete needs both distance and style, the latter of which is achieved by attaining a proper Telemark landing; therefore jumpers are not motivated to jump as far as possible, only as far necessary to attain a good landing. Jumps are invalid if the jumper falls, defined as touching the ground with his hands or body before reaching the fall line. However, if an athlete touches the snow with any part of their body after landing, and receives style points greater than 14 from at least three judges, the jump is valid and counts as an official world record.[14]
When ski flying began in the 1930s, jumps were recorded in a traditional Scandinavian measure of length, the Norwegian alen (1 alen (Norway) = 0.6275 m (2.059 ft)). Some older United States and Canadian records were recorded in feet. Now, jump length is measured by the meter. Today, camera technology capably makes the measurements. Before, spectators were stationed downhill, meter by meter, and the raised hand of the nearest observer marked the jumper's landing.[15]
Men
First ever recorded jump (22 November 1808)
First official jump over 100 meters in history (15 March 1936)
Disqualified at world record distance. Standing jumps. Not recognized as official world record. Unclear if this was before or after Ragnar Omtvedt set WR at 169 ft. Unclear in which unit distance was measured; ells, Norwegian feet or meters?
Falsely claimed world records
Those jumps were never actually world record distances, false claimed by some stats and media:
1886 — Johannes Nordgården didn't set standing WR at 26 metres, but actually crashed at 27 metres WR distance on 24 February on Flatdalbakken in Seljord. However, Olaf Berland stood at 25.5 m, which was almost certainly a WR back then.[24]
1892 – 30 metres by Gustav Bye from Norway set in Blyberget, Trondheim on 11 March was never a WR. Some statistics made false claims it was in 1890, which would then actually be a world record. After this jump, anonymous reader "F2", most likely it was Fritz Huitsfeldt, the secretary of Ski Association in Oslo, wrote an open letter in Aftenposten, accusing organizers in Trondheim that they cheated at distance measuring. He got their quick response in Aftenposten on his false allegations.[284][285]
1913 – 48 metres by Thorleif Knudsen set on Bolgenschanze at 2 March, was never a WR. Europeans then didn't believe (acknowledge) world records on North American, as two weeks earlier Ragnar Omtvedt set WR at 51.5 metres (169 ft).[286]
1914 — 48.5 metres set by Norwegians Josef Henriksen and Fridolf Aas on 1 February at Gustadbakken, were never WRs. Europeans then didn't believe (acknowledge) reports from America, that year before Ragnar Omtvedt set WR at 51.5 m (169 ft).[287][47]
1918 — claimed 62.2 metres (204 ft) by Henry Hall set on 22 February is false, as no world record was set that year at Steamboat Springs. The longest jump that year was set on Friday by Anders Haugen at 191 feet (58.2 metres).[49]
1931 — Alf Engen's 231 feet (70.4 m) set on Ecker Hill on 1 January was never really WR, because Americans recognized only their records (229 ft by R. Omtdvedt). But Badrutt made 246 ft already in 1930 and Nelsen (240 ft) in 1925.[234][288][289]
1931 — Alf Engen's 243 feet (74 m) set on Ecker Hill on 1 February was never really WR, because Americans recognized only their records (229 ft by R. Omtdvedt). But Badrutt made 246 ft already in 1930 and Nelsen (240 ft) in 1925.[288][290]
1933 — Alf Engen's 281 ft (85.6 metres) set on 26 February on Ecker Hill was never WR, recognized only in America. Henri Ruchet jumped 285 ft on the same day before him and Sigmund Ruud landed at 282 ft a week earlier, both set in Villars.[291][292]
1941 — All three jumps on 2 March in Planica in this chronological order; Lahr (111 m), Krauß (112 m) and Mair (109 m with touch) were false claimed as world records. They all performed only after Gering set WR at 118 metres, as described in Jutro.[1]
1991 — There have been many rumors and false speculations over the years, that Ralph Gebstedt tied 194 metres world record on 23 March in Planica. But in fact, he only set his personal best at 190 metres.[293][294][295]
Plastic matting for ski jumping was invented by German athlete Hans Renner. The first ski jumping tests on plastic without any audience were made on 31 October 1954 at Regenbergschanze in Zella-Mehlis, East Germany.
At the Wadeberg Jugendschanze K40 in Oberhof, East Germany, which was built just next to the old Thüringenschanze [de]. Werner Lesser was the first to set a summer WR of 41 m (135 ft) on 21 November 1954.
^Tim Ashburner tells in the book The history of ski jumping (ISBN1-904057-15-2, p. 14) that Norheim's longest jump in the circuit in Hauglibakken should have been measured at 50 Norwegian ells / alen (31.5 meters as one ell was then equal to 62.75 cm), but that the newspapers in Christiania stated that the length "with a certain exaggeration" should have been 30 ells (19 metres). However all statistics cites 19.5 metres as world record, which corresponds to 31 ells.
^Hussebyrennet was held between 5–7 February 1881. To confirm the exact day of WR was set, sources from Aftenposten and other Norwegian newspaper articles needs to be searched.
^According to official German radio report cited in Ljudska pravica, jumps were following in that order: Andreas Däscher (130 m), then Dan Netzell (135 m) and the last Sepp Weiler (133 m).
^Geir Ove Berg's jump was first measured as 167 metres, but later corrected into 173 metres world record. It was officially published the next day
^In 1879 Olaf Haugann reached the distance of 22 metres during practice
^On 21 or 22 March 1891, Gustav Bye claimed, that he jumped 33 metres in Levanger, Norway, which would then be WR. However, it is uncertain with some doubts if it was perhaps measured in Ells (1 Norwegian ell = 62.75 cm) which would be actually only 20 metres.
^In 1913, Ragnar Omtvedt landed at 158 ft (48.2 m) WR distance on American Championships in Ironwood, but not recognized as this was professional competition. Later on the same day, another amateur competition for longest standing jump event was held, where Omtvedt set official WR at 169 ft (51.5 metres).
^161 ft fall is possible WR distance. It is unclear from the article description. Depends on when was it set, before or after Omtvedt set 169 ft WR?
^165 ft fall is possible WR distance. It is unclear from the article description. Depends on when was it set, before or after Omtvedt set 169 ft WR?
^According to Harold "Cork" Anson, 254 ft (77.4 metres) world record distance set by Alf Engen on Ecker Hill in January 1931, was not recognized as WR, because Utah Ski Club was not then a member of the Western American Winter Sport Association.
^266 ft (81.1 metres) world record distance set by Alf Engen on Ecker Hill on 19 December 1931, was not recognized as WR, as it was achieved at practice, witnessed by only five people.
^311 ft (94.8 metres) world record distance set by Alf Engen on Ecker Hill in January 1935, was made at practice (non-sanctioned competition) and that is why it was not recognized as an official world record.
^Gudbrandsdølen as the only source reported about 15.5 meters as WR (30 January 1902) all others reported about 14.5 meters for the Hilda Stang world record set in 1902 in Gjøvik
^Harold "Cork" Anson: Jumping Through Time. A History of Ski Jumping in the United States and Southwest Canada. Port Hole Publications, Florence, Oregon 2010. ISBN978-0-9768107-7-3 (page 44)
