The origin of ski jumping is uncertain, but the sport has long been established in Sweden, Norway and Finland.
Since 1934, the town of Planica in Slovenija, a small country in the northern European Alps bordered by Austria, Italy and Hungary, has been recognised as the world leader in ski jumping and ski flying.
Planica hosts the final leg of the World Championship in ski jumping each year on the large (180K) jumping hill shown at right. The ski flying world championship will be held at Planica between 19 - 22 February 2004. For further details about this spectacular event, contact Tony Mihelcic
Unfortunately the sport is conspicuous by its absence in the Southern Hemisphere, however there are plans to establish the sport here in Australia.
All world records in ski jumping and ski flying have been set on the jumping hills at Planica in Slovenija, shown here in the photograph.
The current world record (MP4, 855 kb) for ski flying was set by Romoeren Bjoern Einar with a jump of 239m on 20 March 2005.
Previous world records include:
- Matti Hautamaki (MP4, 550 kb) with a jump of 235.3m on 20 March 2005.
- Matti Hautamaki (MPG, 1190 kb) with a jump of 231m on 23 March 2003.
