Angle of attack, V opening and body-ski position decide the glide ratio — and the optimal flight position shifts with headwind and tailwind.
The elite optimise the flight through three control variables: the angle of attack of the skis against the oncoming air, the opening of the V and the body-ski position — and they deliberately shift these angles depending on whether there is a headwind or a tailwind [2][3]. In flight the jumper is not a projectile but a wing that he shapes himself.
How much is in it, the history of technique proved long ago: Jan Boklöv's V-style delivered up to around 10 percent more distance and around 28 percent more lift than the old parallel style [1]. That was not fine-tuning, that was a new aircraft.
At elite level the same lever is now pushed to its limit in degrees and tenths of a second. Plain talk: it is no longer about whether you fly — it is about how efficiently you trade lift against drag in every single flight phase.
This section explains the aerodynamics of the flight phase — it is an analysis, not flight instructions.
Because they do not fall, they glide. Jumper and skis together form a wing; the V-style enlarges its effective area so much that, compared with the parallel style, around 28 percent more lift and up to around 10 percent more distance arise [1]. Vividly: the jumper lies down on a cushion of air that carries him instead of fighting the air.
For the ski alone, the maximum lift-to-drag ratio is reached at an angle of attack of around 30 degrees [2]. Translated: a ski clearly tilted against the airflow, deflecting the air downward and thereby pushing itself upward — too flat and the lift is missing; too steep and drag eats it up again. For the matching edge position a window of 5 to 10 degrees applies [2], so only a slight tilt onto the ski edge, not standing it up.
An optimal V opening of around 26 degrees is reported, with a clear split: in the early flight phase the first task is to reduce drag, later on it is to maximise lift [2]. The best documented lift-to-drag ratio of about 1.55 arose at a ski-opening angle of 22.5 degrees and an ankle angle of 20 degrees [2]. A ratio of 1.55 means, tangibly: for every metre you sink, you travel a good one and a half metres forward.
Here lies the uncomfortable truth of flight optimisation: the lift-to-drag ratio rises with a larger hip angle — the flatter the jumper lies over the skis, the more efficiently he flies. At the same time, this narrows the range of angle of attack in which the flight stays stable [2]. More efficiency therefore costs error tolerance. That is the real elite trade-off: whoever lies flattest has the least buffer.
The flight position is not created in the air but in the transition: from the table into the early flight phase, jumpers extend the hip (86 to 109 degrees) and knee (136 to 171 degrees), lean the trunk forward (49 to 41 degrees) and raise the skis (20 to 51 degrees) [4]. How well the aerodynamic forces are used before and during that is the prerequisite for a good flight position [6]. And the in-run crouch at around 90 km/h is already pure aerodynamics [5].
In the optimisation study on the influence of wind, the optimal angles of attack were smaller in headwind and larger in tailwind than in calm conditions [3]. The return is real: with optimally adjusted angle of attack, a jumper gains up to 1.8 metres on the large hill and up to 6.4 metres on the flying hill [3]. At a strong wind of 3 m/s, increases of 6.9 metres in headwind and 14.4 metres in tailwind were computed on the flying hill [3]. Wind is therefore not a disturbance to be endured — it is a condition you retune your technique for.
Plain talk: this guide explains and motivates, it never replaces supervised training in a club or on the hill. It describes why certain angles are aerodynamically efficient — it does not tell you how to produce them in the air.
Separate understanding from execution. Flight position is developed exclusively in strict progression from the smallest hill upward, with qualified coaches and on certified facilities. The thought "lying flatter buys glide ratio" is correct in the research [2] and dangerous in execution, because exactly that position narrows the stable angle-of-attack range [2] — efficiency and error tolerance work against each other.
On wind, one thing more: whether a round is jumped and from which gate is decided by jury and coaches, not by a jumper's ambition. Wind adaptation is a team decision with safety priority, not an individual attempt at distance.
Do not think of the flight phase as a position but as two separate tasks with different goals: in the early phase you win by keeping drag small, in the late phase by maximising lift [2]. Anyone who holds that split in mind stops searching for the one perfect position and starts training the transition between two states. — in flight, smart means slim early, carrying late.
They glide on a wing they shape themselves. The V-style enlarges the effective area so much that, compared with the parallel style, around 28 percent more lift and up to around 10 percent more distance arise [1]. The best documented lift-to-drag ratio is about 1.55 [2] — for every metre of sinking, a good one and a half metres of forward travel.
For the ski alone, the maximum lift-to-drag ratio is reached at around 30 degrees angle of attack, with an edge angle of 5 to 10 degrees [2]. An optimal V opening of around 26 degrees is reported [2]. These values are orientation from simulation and wind tunnel, not an individual prescription — and the optimal position changes over the course of the flight anyway [2].
It changes not only the distance but the optimal technique: in headwind the optimal angles of attack are smaller, in tailwind larger than in calm conditions [3]. Optimally adjusted, this is worth up to 1.8 metres on the large hill and up to 6.4 metres on the flying hill [3]; at 3 m/s of wind, 6.9 metres in headwind and 14.4 metres in tailwind were computed on the flying hill [3].
Because the flight position arises in the transition: from the table into the early flight phase, hip extension (86 to 109 degrees), knee extension (136 to 171 degrees), trunk lean (49 to 41 degrees) and raising the skis (20 to 51 degrees) run off as one movement [4]. Proper use of the aerodynamic forces before and during that is the prerequisite for a good flight position [6].
Wind Points and Gate Factor: How Fair Is a Ski Jumping Result Really?