Hello
I apologise in advance because of huge post, but I'm sure some of you will find this interesting.
I did some research based on official results from Planica (those found on
www.fis-ski.com), because I wanted to prove how jumpers who start with lower inrun gate actually have HUGE advantage over others
So, here are the conclusions:
PLANICA HS215
Meter Value 1.2 pts/m
Gate Factor 7.74 pts/m
Wind Factor 10.74 pts/m
- / headwind
+ / backwind
* points and distance meters difference between gates (taken from official results)
Gate 14 - Gate 15 = 3.7 pts = 3.08m
Gate 14 - Gate 17 = 11.8 pts = 9.83m
Gate 14 - Gate 20 = 22.5 pts = 18.75m
Gate 14 - Gate 21 = 26.7 pts = 22.25m
Gate 14 - Gate 22 = 29.6 pts = 24.66m
Gate 14 - Gate 24 = 36.7 pts = 30.56m
For the base jump, I took the 4th round from the individual competition (etc. the one with the lowest inrun gate).
Data should be read as follows :
- number of jump (4 rounds from individual competition (jumps 1-4) + 2 from team competition (jumps 5 and 6)
- actual distance jumped
- wind bonus or deduction (expressed in points)
- corrected distance, if we assume jump was made under ideal conditions, 0.00 m/s (assuming of course wind factor is correct - witch it isn't but i'll talk about it later).
- In final column (=), it is the distance that jumper should have jumped - assuming the gate factor is correct - taking into account he would be on exactly the same form as in 4th round (base round).
So it goes like this :
Ammann
4) Gate 14 / 236.5m / -10.3w / 227.92m
1) Gate 22 / 215.5m / +5.4w / 220.00m = 252.58m
2) Gate 21 / 216.5m / +6.7w / 222.08m = 250.17m
3) Gate 15 / 227.0m / -12.2w / 216.84m = 231.00m
Explanation - in fourth round, Ammann jumped 236.5m from gate 14. He got headwind and the deduction of 10.3 pts, so (again, assuming wind factor is correct), he would jump 227.92m with absolutely no wind (0.00 m/s). Now, if he had exactly the same jump in 1st round - taking into account also wind factor of course - he would go 252.58 meters!!!
While actually he did 220.0 meters (corrected distance). Of course, it is difficult to expect that he would have 2 exactly the same jumps in terms of quality, but the pattern remains the same : in 2nd round, he would go 250.17 meters (28 meters more than corrected distance), and even in the 3rd round when the gate is only slightly higher there is a huge difference (14 meters) - which very likely indicates that wind factor formulas are also very wrong.
I took same calculations for Schlierenzauer, Malysz, Jacobsen and Kranjec - and it turns up that ALL of them had by far the best jump in that 4th round, when they had lowest inrun gate!
Schlierenzauer
4) Gate 14 / 230.5m / -14.1w / 218.75m
1) Gate 22 / 209.5m / +6.7w / 215.08m = 243.41m
2) Gate 21 / 205.0m / +9.7w / 213.08m = 241.00m
3) Gate 15 / 222.5m / -13.1w / 211.59m = 221.83m
5) Gate 22 / 226.5m / -0.3w / 226.25m = 243.41m
6) Gate 24 / 231.0m / +6.2w / 236.16m = 249.31m
According to this, Schlierenzauer was nowhere near his top form in first 2 jumps on Friday (28 meters less than distance he should have jumped, if he was on same form as on Saturday 4th round). And then, all of sudden, he lost his form again during team competition (17 and 13 meters less than standard set by his 4th round jump).
Also, if he kept his form from Saturday, today he should have jumped world record twice!
Malysz
4) Gate 14 / 211.5m / -10.1w / 203.09m
1) Gate 22 / 217.5m / +3.5w / 221.70m = 227.75m
2) Gate 21 / 215.0m / +6.2w / 220.16m = 225.34m
3) Gate 15 / 211.0m / -6.6w / 205.50m = 206.17m
5) Gate 22 / 218.5m / -5.2w / 214.17m = 227.26m
6) Gate 24 / 213.5m / +9.1w / 221.08m = 233.65m
It is a general thought that Malysz was very poor by his standards in 3rd and 4th round on Saturday. But, according to these numbers, his 3rd and 4th jump were actually best ones from the whole weekend! (taking into account only competition rounds)
Jacobsen
4) Gate 14 / 227.5m / -8.5w / 220.42m
1) Gate 22 / 217.0m / +4.4w / 220.66m = 245.08m
2) Gate 21 / 194.5m / +6.4w / 199.83m = 242.67m
3) Gate 17 / 230.5m / -12.7w / 219.92m = 230.25m
5) Gate 20 / 202.0m / +4.4w / 205.66m = 239.17m
6) Gate 20 / 217.5m / +2.7w / 219.75m = 239.17m
As you can see, even Jacobsen had by far the best jump in 4th round. In fact, if we are to believe gate and wind factors, his 4th round jump was 20% better than his 2nd jump!
Kranjec
4) Gate 14 / 222.5m / -14.0w / 211.84m
1) Gate 24 / 223.5m / -2.7w / 221.25m = 242.40m
2) Gate 21 / 203.5m / +2.4w / 205.50m = 234.09m
3) Gate 15 / 212.5m / -8.9w / 205.09m = 214.92m
5) Gate 22 / 219.5m / -3.7w / 216.42m = 236.50m
6) Gate 24 / 206.5m / +7.1w / 212.41m = 242.40m
If Kranjec kept his form from Saturday, today he would go over the world record! But in fact, in his last jump he only did 212.41m (corrected distance) - 30 meters less than expected.
Further, if difference between gate 14 and gate 22 is really 29.6 pts (24.66m on ski-flying hills), we would had so many jumps over 240m last few days!!!!!
So, to conclude, gate(and also wind) factor formulas are nowhere near to actual truth, since it is impossible that EVERYONE would jump BY FAR their best jump in the 4th round.
Lowering the inrun gate makes competitions much more unfair, especially when they lower it by several meters.
Any comments?