Biomechanical insights into increasing jump distance in ski jumping: a review classified by hill size

This review organizes biomechanical studies aimed at increasing the jump distance in ski jumping by phase (approach, takeoff, flight, and landing) and classifies them according to hill size. Data were collected from EBSCOhost, Web of Science, and Google Scholar. A total of 1,701 records were retrieved from the databases, of which 42 met the inclusion criteria and were included in this review. At first glance, the literature appears to comprehensively cover findings that meet the mechanical objectives required to increase jump distance in each phase. However, when examined by hill size, the majority of literature is concentrated on normal and large hills, which are used in the Olympic Games. Consequently, there is limited scientific evidence regarding small-scale hills (small and medium hills) and largest-scale hills (flying hills). Therefore, future studies should focus on hills other than normal and large hills. To facilitate the application of kinematic data to musculoskeletal models and the estimation of kinetics, there is a need to develop methods that enable easy recording of jumpers and collection of kinematic data with minimal error. Furthermore, because research on landing remains insufficient, further studies on the landing phase are required from an injury-prevention perspective.