The V-style explained: why opened ski tips deliver up to 28 % more lift, which V-angle is optimal and how the flight phase actually works.
The V-style is the flight position in which the ski tips are opened outward into a "V" — and it delivers up to roughly 28 % more lift and up to about 10 % more distance than the old parallel style [1]. It was introduced by the Swede Jan Boklöv in the late 1980s; by the early 1990s virtually the entire world elite jumped this way [1].
The reason is simple and still striking: in the V-style, body and both skis form one single, wide lifting surface. Instead of two narrow boards trailing under a body, a coherent surface arises that offers the oncoming air far more to work with. The jumper does not fall — the jumper is carried.
Which is exactly why flying in ski jumping is not luck but angle work. Aerodynamic studies find an optimal ski V-angle of about 26 degrees and a maximum lift-to-drag ratio at around a 30-degree angle of attack [3]. Sounds like millimetre work? It is: correct management of the V-angle alone can be worth up to eight metres of distance according to simulation [3].
This section explains how the flight phase works — it is expressly not an instruction to try a hill or a flight position yourself.
In the parallel style the skis lie side by side like two narrow boards. In the V-style the tips open, and the surface made of body and skis becomes wider and more efficient — the result is up to roughly 28 % more lift and thus up to about 10 % more distance [1]. In practice: a jump that used to end at 100 metres reaches considerably further from the same starting energy.
The switch into flight position is a single coordinated movement. Measurements of the early flight phase show: the hip opens to 86 to 109 degrees, the knee to 136 to 171 degrees, the trunk leans forward at 49 to 41 degrees, and the skis rise to 20 to 51 degrees [2]. So: extend, tip forward over the skis, angle the skis — in one go.
A detail that surprises many: how high the jumper rises above the slope depends strongly on the vertical velocity at take-off [2] — on how much upward impulse was generated in that fraction of a second at the edge. Take too little from it and you never even reach the position in which the V-style can work.
Aerodynamically there is no "as wide as possible". The optimal V-angle is about 26 degrees — wide enough for lift through the main part of the flight, narrow enough not to brake in the early flight phase [3]. Add the angle of attack of the skis, their tilt against the oncoming air: the best lift-to-drag ratio sits at around 30 degrees, and the edge angle should stay limited to 5 to 10 degrees [3].
Ski jumping runs at 80 to 120 km/h and consists of four phases — in-run, take-off, flight, landing — which together last only 8 to 14 seconds [4]. The flight is the longest of them but also the part with the smallest adjustment screws: it is not about big actions but about holding a good position for a long time. Flying here means: do not break anything.
Even though the flight phase looks easy on television, it is the part of the sport you learn least from descriptions. This guide explains and motivates, it never replaces supervised training in a club or on the hill.
Separate understanding from execution. Knowing angles does not make you airborne — they are measurements from world-class jumps, not instructions for your first attempt. A flight position is developed exclusively on certified hills, in strict progression from the smallest size upward, with qualified coaches [4]. No slope, no self-built ramp and no unsupervised training rig replaces that.
And one honest note: the equipment is optimised more for the flight than for the landing [4]. Anyone talking about the flight has to think about the landing too — it is the phase in which the knee takes the load.
Watch a slow-motion replay and focus on the moment the skis rise. That is exactly where "jump" becomes "flight": skis at 20 to 51 degrees, trunk forward over the binding, hip and knee extending [2]. Once you see that moment in isolation, you understand why coaches almost never correct the flight during the flight — they correct the take-off [5]. Distance is created earlier. The flight only shows it.
The V-style is the flight position with the ski tips opened outward. It emerged in the late 1980s through Jan Boklöv and was standard by the early 1990s [1]. The reason is pure aerodynamics: body and skis form a wider lifting surface that generates up to roughly 28 % more lift and thus enables up to about 10 % more distance [1].
Because they do not fall, they are carried. The V-style generates additional lift [1], and the flight position is fine-tuned through angles: optimal V-angle about 26 degrees, best lift-to-drag ratio at around a 30-degree angle of attack [3]. Overall, though, a jump from in-run to landing lasts only 8 to 14 seconds [4].
It enlarges and improves the lifting surface made of jumper and skis instead of running two narrow boards in parallel [1]. Simulations show how sensitive that is: correct management of the V-angle alone can change distance by up to eight metres, with an optimum around 26 degrees and an edge angle of 5 to 10 degrees [3].
Because they are part of that lifting surface. Jumping skis are longer and wider than alpine skis and therefore deliver more area for lift; the binding fixes only the front foot so the heel stays free and the skis can be set into the V at all [6]. Without that freedom in the ankle there would be no V-style.
The Telemark Landing: Mandatory Technique and Knee Protection in One