Kinematic Structure at the Early Flight Position in Ski Jumping

The purpose of our research was to establish the variability of correlation between the length of the jumps and
selected multi-item kinematic variables (n=9) in the early flight phase technique of ski jumping. This study was
conducted on a sample of elite Slovenian ski jumpers (N=29) who participated in the experiment on a jumping hill in
Hinterzarten, Germany (HS95m) on the 20th of August, 2008. The highest and most significant correlations (p=0.01)
with the length of the ski jump were found in the multi-item variable height of flying, which was also expressed with the
highest level of stability of the explained total variance (TV) on the first factor (TV=69.13%). The most important
characteristic of the aerodynamic aspect of early flight was the variable angle between the body chord and the horizontal
axis with significantly high correlations (p<0.05). The stability of that aerodynamic factor was very high (TV=65.04%).
The results were essentially similar for the multi-item variable angle between left leg and the horizontal axis
(TV=61.88%). The rest of the multi-item kinematic variables did not have significant correlations with the multi-item
variable length of jump. Only two more variables, the angle between the upper body and the horizontal plane
(TV=53.69%), and the angle between left ski and left leg (TV=50.13%), had an explained common variance on the first
factor greater than 50% of total variance. The results indicated that some kinematic parameters of ski jumping early
flight technique were more important for success considering the length of the jump.