Ski Jumping World Cup

The International Ski Federation (FIS) is now holding the 2008-09 Ski Jumping World Cup - the 30th season to date. This World Cup season began on November 29th in Kuusamo, Finland, and will run through 28 competitions ending on March 22nd in Planica, Slovenia. Top jumpers can regularly make jumps of about 140 meters (460 feet). The current overall leader (individual) is Simon Ammann of Switzerland. (30 photos total)

Austria's Thomas Morgenstern performs during the qualifying run of the World Cup Ski jumping HS 142 (hill size 142 meters) on November 27, 2008, in Kuusamo-Ruka, Finland. (OLIVIER MORIN/AFP/Getty Images)

An unidentified athlete prepares for his jump during the practice of the first event of the four-hills ski jumping tournament in Oberstdorf, December 28, 2008. (REUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach) #

Austria's Gregor Schlierenzauer speeds down the ski jump during the practice for the first event of the 4-hills ski jumping tournament in the southern German winter sport resort of Oberstdorf, December 28, 2008. (REUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach) #

A skier trains on the ski jump at the stadium in Ruka during an unofficial training session on November 26, 2008 in Kuusamo-Ruka, Finland ahead of the qualifications for the world cup Nordic combined and ski jumping event on November 27. (OLIVIER MORIN/AFP/Getty Images) #

The ski jump and the village of Oberstdorf are reflected in the goggles of Japanese ski jumper Noriaki Kasai during the practice for the first event of the 4-hills ski jumping tournament in the southern German winter sport resort of Oberstdorf, December 28, 2008. (REUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach) #

Anssi Koivuranta of Finland arrives for his jump during the ski jumping event at the World Cup nordic combined competition in the eastern German town of Oberhof, December 28, 2008. (REUTERS/Johannes Eisele) #

Simon Ammann from Switzerland soars through the air during the first event of the four-hills ski jumping tournament in Oberstdorf, Germany on December 29, 2008. (REUTERS/Michael Dalder) #

Simon Ammann from Switzerland soars through the air during the practice for the first event of the four-hills ski jumping tournament in Oberstdorf, Germany on December 28, 2008. (REUTERS/Michael Dalder) #

Switzerland's ski jumping World Cup overall leader Simon Ammann concentrates prior to the practice for the first event of the 4-hills ski jumping tournament in the southern German winter sport resort of Oberstdorf, December 28, 2008. (REUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach) #

Switzerland's ski jumping World Cup overall leader Simon Ammann soars through the air during the qualification for the first event of the 4-hills ski jumping tournament in the southern German winter sport resort of Oberstdorf, December 28, 2008. (REUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach) #

A skier trains on the ski jump at the stadium in Ruka during an unofficial training session on November 26, 2008 in Kuusamo-Ruka, Finland ahead of the qualifications for the world cup nordic combined and ski jumping event next November 27. (OLIVIER MORIN/AFP/Getty Images) #

Todd Lodwick of the US soars through the air during the ski jumping portion of the Nordic Combined World Cup in Oberhof, Germany, Sunday, Dec. 28, 2008. (AP Photo/Matthias Rietschel) #

Norway's Roar Ljoekelsoey competes during the world Cup ski jumping on November 29, 2008 in Kuusamo-Ruka, Finland. (OLIVIER MORIN/AFP/Getty Images) #

Austria's Wolfgang Loitzl soars over thousands of spectators during the first event of the four-hills ski jumping tournament in the southern German winter sport resort of Oberstdorf, December 29, 2008. (REUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach) #

Germany's Martin Schmitt concentrates during practice for the first stage of the Four Hills ski jumping championship on December 29, 2008 in Oberstdorf, southern Germany. (ROBERT MICHAEL/AFP/Getty Images) #

Switzerland's ski jumping World Cup overall leader Simon Ammann soars through the air during the practice for the first event of the 4-hills ski jumping tournament in the southern German winter sport resort of Oberstdorf, December 28, 2008. (REUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach) #

Norway's Anders Bardall reacting after a crash during the first event of the four-hills ski jumping tournament in the southern German resort of Oberstdorf, December 29, 2008. (REUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach) #

A skier trains at the Ruka ski jumping stadium in Kuusamo, Finland, during an unofficial training session on November 26, 2008, for the qualifying session of the world cup Nordic combined and ski jumping event on November 27. (OLIVIER MORIN/AFP/Getty Images) #

Germany's Martin Schmitt lands during the second event of the four-hills ski jumping tournament in the southern German winter sport resort of Garmisch-Partenkirchen, January 1, 2009. (REUTERS/Dominic Ebenbichler) #

Slovenia's Primoz Pikl jumps during a qualifying run of the World Cup Ski jumping HS 142 (hill size 142 meters) on November 27, 2008 in Kuusamo-Ruka, Finland. (OLIVIER MORIN/AFP/Getty Images) #

A ski jumper takes a run during a practice session during the summer FIS Grand Prix in Ski Jumping in Zakopane, Poland back on August 29th, 2008. (REUTERS/Kacper Pempel) #

A skier trains on the ski jump at the stadium in Ruka during an unofficial training session on November 26, 2008 in Kuusamo-Ruka, Finland ahead of the qualifications for the world cup nordic combined and ski jumping event next November 27. (OLIVIER MORIN/AFP/Getty Images) #

Norway's Anders Jacobsen jumps during a qualifying run of the World Cup Ski jumping HS 142 (hill size 142 meters) on November 27, 2008 in Kuusamo-Ruka, Finland. (OLIVIER MORIN/AFP/Getty Images) #

Poland's Adam Malysz competes during the World Cup individual competition on November 29, 2008 in Kuusamo-Ruka, Finland. (OLIVIER MORIN/AFP/Getty Images) #

Simon Ammann of Switzerland jumps during the qualification round of the FIS World cup men ski jumping HS 140 (hill size 140 meters) competition in Pragelato, Italy on December 12, 2008. (DAMIEN MEYER/AFP/Getty Images) #

Austria's Markus Eggenhoffer soars through the air during the ski jumping FIS World Cup competition, on December 21, 2008 in Engelberg, Switzerland. Austria's Gregor Schlierenzauer won ahead of Austria's Wolgang Loitzl and Switzerland's Simon Amman. (NICHOLAS RATZENBOECK/AFP/Getty Images) #

Switzerland's Andreas Kuettel speeds down the ski-jump during his first round jump at New Year's stage of the Four Hills Tournament in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, Thursday, Jan. 1, 2009. (AP Photo/KEYSTONE/Peter Klaunzer) #

Germany's Eric Frenzel competes during the World Cup Nordic Combined event on November 30, 2008, in Kuusamo-Ruka, Finland. (OLIVIER MORIN/AFP/Getty Images) #

Austrian Wolfgang Loitzl kisses the trophy during the winner's ceremony of the second stage of the four hills ski jumping tournament in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, southern Germany, on Thursday, Jan 1, 2009. (AP Photo/Christof Stache) #

More links and information

2008-09 Ski Jumping World Cup - Wikipedia entry

International Ski Federation (FIS) - official site

FIS Ski Jumping World Cup - official site

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Wonderful!

Posted by Thomas Dewaele January 2, 09 12:10 PM

Number five is phenomenal!!!

Posted by Meg January 2, 09 12:26 PM

# 12. jinkies.

Posted by eddie knight January 2, 09 12:28 PM

wow great

Posted by metalrcn January 2, 09 12:31 PM

No 22 gives you an idea of how far up they are.. talk about scary WOW

Posted by Tony Montana January 2, 09 12:34 PM

Hello boston.com Happy New Year...These Pics are Amazing :-)

Posted by chris January 2, 09 12:37 PM

Amazing!!! great pics!!

Posted by Fer January 2, 09 12:43 PM

Man's perpetual fascination with flight

Posted by medaholic January 2, 09 12:45 PM

The caption for #24 is wrong -- it is not Simon Amman who is pictured, but the Norwegian Anders Jacobsen.

A lot of great pictures though!

Posted by Torbjorn January 2, 09 12:59 PM

N�5 Like the Chanel perfume :-)

Posted by Calusarus January 2, 09 01:17 PM

@Trobjorn - thanks for the catch - verified and fixed now.

Posted by alan taylor January 2, 09 01:25 PM

number eleven fantastic photo!!!

Posted by Dani January 2, 09 01:32 PM

Cannot help saying this but I found this album to be more than sports photos, they are artistic photographs the invokes emotion in the viewer.

Posted by Bill from NYC January 2, 09 01:41 PM

#5 is stunning.

Posted by Adam January 2, 09 01:52 PM

Ahh Oberstdorf is so nice seen from #5

Posted by JP January 2, 09 02:27 PM

the incredible forces at work (and compensated for by these athletes) are so apparent in #20.
Amazing shot.

Posted by blief January 2, 09 04:36 PM

Cool, always good to see some photos that don't need the black-out warnings..

Posted by mbsto January 2, 09 05:19 PM

#22 - Gulp.

Posted by Julia January 2, 09 07:18 PM

Boston fans' comments would be filled with invective if a New Englander were in the competition and didn't win...

Posted by dsf January 2, 09 08:03 PM

jumping amazing!
and amazing pictures!

Posted by zuzu January 2, 09 08:32 PM

Amazing shots...beautiful. Congratulations again.

Posted by Joe P January 2, 09 09:44 PM

I love these... some variation in theme...

Posted by Timen January 2, 09 09:56 PM

really good angles and reflections on the pics,
..although one of the less amazing posts in 'BigPicture' :)

Posted by Marco Sousa January 2, 09 10:11 PM

Image #5 is a wicked photo! You can spot the photographer (Kai Pfaffenbach) in the reflection on the left side of the image.

Posted by Kam January 2, 09 10:47 PM

Boston needs a New Ski Jump. They can do it in Europe everywhere. Lets get it going more in America! It is a beautiful sport for Men and Women!

Posted by Landis January 3, 09 12:23 AM

#11 my fovorit !
Big picture, as usual !

Posted by S@m January 3, 09 02:11 AM

One of the most exciting moment of the last year was our trip in Bosnia-Hercegovina, where we visited the abandoned ski-jumping facility of Olympics 1984. It was really schocking, so high, so unbelieveable that people jumping to nowhere; and it was a schocking moment to see the location of the winter games was used to assisination and executions.
This pictures above are the great moments of humanity and sport, those abandoned building are the monuments of the darkest moments...
My pictures are here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/azso/tags/igman/

Posted by AZso January 3, 09 05:42 AM

no 22 is by far the most frightening

Posted by garrett Brady January 3, 09 06:48 AM

Happy New Year Boston.com!
#20 my favourite! This shot is very,very,very... ...incredible!

Posted by �kos from Hungary January 3, 09 07:39 AM

If anyone hasn't seen it, check out "Die Gro�e Ekstase des Bildschnitzers Steiner."

Posted by jhm January 3, 09 10:45 AM

Very enjoyable collection. #'s 14 & 27 are quite fresh and vivid.

Posted by Glenn January 3, 09 11:24 AM

beautiful haloo for serbija

Posted by ambrus January 3, 09 01:52 PM

Oh no... so depressing... :-) Despair: even as a newspaper shooter, I rarely take a single picture as good as any of the Big Picture shots.

Posted by Michael January 3, 09 10:42 PM

Amazing ...

Posted by Amir Masoud January 3, 09 11:06 PM

Happy New Year. This Pictures is Very Nice. Thank You (Mehdi from IRAN )

Posted by Mehdi January 4, 09 02:19 AM

#5 #10 -- amazing shots!

Posted by baliwebnews January 4, 09 03:25 AM

Beautiful and amazing jumps into the New Year!
Happy New Year to the whole "Boston - Big Pictures" crew who have been sharing the most interesting, beautiful and amazing shots from around the world!

Posted by Diana Calvario January 4, 09 04:25 AM

i wish my lovely friends a brilliant New Year 2009 full of life, peace, happiness, success, joy, health, wealth, luck with love, i wish you all have a wonderful holiday with your family & friends, take care & bye

Posted by maryam January 4, 09 11:41 AM

Wow - a photographer's dream shoot. Gorgeous images. Great backgrounds.

Posted by Tim Yocum January 4, 09 03:06 PM

The photos are lovely, but the captions lack any real enthusiasm. Just a standard "[name] flying through the air during competition/practice" or "[name] concentrating".
I don't know...I'm aware The Big Picture is about the photos, but the words that are included should match the pictures they're paired with in excitement and passion.

Just a thought...

Posted by Kate January 4, 09 03:17 PM

A series of spectacular images. This is the way the Big Picture should be taken and viewed - without all of the inane, vitriolic political comments. Just appreciate the photos for the superb art they are.

Posted by bedub January 4, 09 04:49 PM

nice!byutiful!

Posted by vlade hristovski January 4, 09 05:32 PM

Amazing!!! great pics!! very nice..............

Posted by Hanfi January 5, 09 01:21 AM

Shock!

Posted by Christinamo January 5, 09 01:47 AM

coooooooooolll!
nice!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Posted by zzz January 5, 09 03:18 AM

wow!

Posted by MK January 5, 09 05:13 AM

wowwwwooowwoowwooo
i like this
and thank u for this picture

Posted by Reza January 5, 09 05:58 AM

wonderful pictures, and very scary :)

Posted by Suraj January 5, 09 07:29 AM

#5 and #28 for the composition
#22 cos' it's just so scary !

A great first post for 2009 !

Posted by Elisabeth January 5, 09 07:46 AM

I want MORE pics of ski jumping. Thank you!

Posted by Steve in Minnesota January 5, 09 01:05 PM

awesome! no.5, no.10 woooooooooooooooooooooow

Posted by morris January 5, 09 01:20 PM

These pictures are GREAT as always. Keep it up.

Posted by Doris January 5, 09 05:31 PM

#5 wow!

Posted by Jay Jay January 5, 09 06:29 PM

#5 is Awesome!!

Posted by Dez! January 6, 09 12:09 AM

My favorite is #5!!!!!!

I take TONS of ski jumping shots for our local skijumping club, however none are as great as these...I can only hope one day mine will be this good.

Check out my photos:
www.stpaulskiclub.smugmug.com

Posted by Skijumpmom January 6, 09 01:35 PM

totally lame. not one crash photo. and what's the deal with the practice jump photo taken in August?! who cares?!

99% of the posts are great, this one is not. You should move this post to your new blog, Big Lame Pictures.

Posted by Bill W January 6, 09 02:25 PM

How do you find out that you're good at this? I would be too scared to make the first jump... Unless they have some smaller jumps to begin with? You never see that

Posted by Robert January 7, 09 06:17 AM

waw ! a big leap in to the New Year !
makes me feel to go to a place with lot of snow from this dry desert !

Posted by anupama aliyar January 8, 09 02:12 AM

best on the best

Posted by mahmoud January 8, 09 03:49 PM

amazing photos

Posted by michelle January 11, 09 10:44 PM

Outstanding Photography, where are the women? I know there are beautiful women out there that can jump.

Posted by Barry Van January 12, 09 07:46 PM

two of them were cool and one was funny

Posted by Anonymous January 12, 09 09:47 PM

i am glad to see these nice , these r realy nice to see them

Posted by ajayjaie January 14, 09 04:10 AM

Just by looking at #22 made my feet all sweaty..

Posted by Acronyx January 16, 09 05:55 AM

Bardall is written Bardal under picture nr. 19.
http://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anders_Bardal

Posted by Anders January 17, 09 04:37 PM

all are great wood like to try if i was in my 20s

Posted by willie.c January 24, 09 06:55 AM

what this subject needs is some poetically filming...a short story of passion... and I'm the man for the job.

Posted by Mark A Allen January 28, 09 09:25 AM

There's a quality of unreality in #27 as Marcus Engelhoffer soars through the air and seems headed for the houses below. It's an exciting shot. albeit a little out of this world!

Posted by Helen Pasternack January 28, 09 10:47 PM

You can get hurt doing some of the events, Just amazing that they would do it for my entertainment. a wonderfull display of photo's.

Posted by George A Roots February 2, 09 05:22 PM

Amazing photos! We need to support this sport more in the US. It is a beautiful event to watch.

Posted by Paul Hoffmann February 28, 09 12:51 PM

No. 27 is beautiful too. Fantastic collection.

Posted by Karen Lauer March 13, 09 10:58 AM

these is so cool i like it this ktype of adventures..

. Keep it up

Posted by nitesh turkar March 28, 09 07:30 AM

Makes me want to get some new sticks and giver a go again!!!

Awsome shots.....

Posted by Tim Zilkowsky June 17, 09 05:07 PM