The effect of wind on jumping distance in ski jumping – fairness assessed

Abstract

The special wind compensation system recently adopted by Fédération Internationale de Ski (FIS; International Ski Federation) to consider the effects of changing wind conditions has caused some controversy. Here, the effect of wind on jumping distance in ski jumping was studied by means of computer simulation and compared with the wind compensation factors used by FIS during the World Cup season 2009/2010. The results showed clearly that the effect of increasing head/tail wind on jumping distance is not linear: +17.4 m/-29.1 m, respectively, for a wind speed of 3 m/s. The linear formula used in the trial period of the wind compensation system was found to be appropriate only for a limited range of jumping distances as the gradient of the landing slope slows down the rate of distance change in long jumps.

After all, it is an outdoor sport: Meta-analytic evidence for negative associations between wind compensation points and round scores in ski jumping competitions

“…Summary effects were observed to be moderate, accounting for up to 4% of variance in the observed wind and round scores associations for all competitions. These results are in line with past findings that indicated that awarded wind compensation points are typically too low [7,8]. The observed effects were stronger for second round than for first round results, indicating stronger undercompensation for athletes that obtain higher classifications, although this difference did not reach nominal statistical significance.…”

“…First, we did not investigate potential non-linearity of wind point effects on round scores. It has been shown, that effects of wind on jump length are not linear [7], which may have led to an underestimation of summary effects in the present study. However, we showed a robust meaningful negative association of wind points with round scores which may be interpreted as a lower threshold of the underestimation of wind compensation points.…”

“…On the one hand, these findings may be seen as support for the idea that wind points "probably 'correct[s]' most cases where wind plays an import role [in steady wind conditions]" ( [7] p.368). On the other hand, wind points were designed to serve as a mechanism that should render athletes' performance comparable in unsteady wind conditions.…”

“…However, the fairness and adequacy of these systems continue to be called into question [6]. In fact, computer simulations [7] and empirical analyses of ski jumper data in three seasons up to 2013/2014 [8] suggest that the wind and gate point systems may yield inappropriate compensation. It has been reported, that the wind compensation system seemed to malcompensate round scores substantially, whilst the gate point system showed evidence for slight overcompensation of scores [8].…”

“…It has been reported, that the wind compensation system seemed to malcompensate round scores substantially, whilst the gate point system showed evidence for slight overcompensation of scores [8]. Moreover, it has been shown that effects of head and tailwind are not linear over the entire distance of a jump [7]. This has led, among others, to the improvement of wind compensation points by introducing weighting procedures to account for the non-linearity [4].…”