Measurement of take‐off forces in ski jumping

The force measuring system constructed under the frost rail inrun track element was used for measurement of take‐off forces in ski jumping. Several calibrations of the normal forces made on several days showed no significant differences between the calibration sessions. Loading the different places of the track element showed differences less than 5% between the places for the total 10‐m distance and less than 3% for the straight take‐off table. Two international‐level ski jumpers served as subjects during the testing of the system. Further preliminary results from 2 different performances techniques are presented. The force curves of subjects displayed totally different patterns: Two distinct peaks for subject MN (F max 25.46 ± 0.80 NkgBW −1 ) and only one peak for subject JH (F max 27.97 ± 0.98 N kgBW −1 ). A slight correlation was found between the F max and the length of the jump for one subject