Ski Jumping

Ski jumping has been part of the Olympic Winter Games since 1924. It is characterized by its high mental load because high forces need to be deployed at a very accurate time. Additionally, it bears a hight risk of serious injuries.
Technique is omnipresent: The suit is custom-made to reduce drag and increase lift forces, trainers use high accuracy video systems to evaluate the athlete's jumps. Research is done worldwide using wind channels to find the optimum flying pose, video and emg measurements to learn about the impact of the ski boots on the jump.

Simon Ammann allowed us to follow him on his way through preparation for this year's Olympic championships in Vancouver.
This is the first study of its kind in which we collected a data set of 21 ski jumps on the world-class athlete Simon Ammann, during training, World Cup competition, and his Olympic victory of 2010. During training, five miniaturized tri-axial acceleration sensors were attached to the athlete, recording his body movements during the ski jumps. Sensors were attached to both legs, both arms and to the athletes chest. We describe in detail the recorded signals and identify characteristic motion patterns. Our analysis show that an automatic jump and jump phase detection is possible. We explain some biomechanically descriptive parameters extracted from this data and highlight ongoing work and system improvements.

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