Flight Without Wings: Lift Comes in Many Forms

Olympic ski jumpers are all tip and no wing, so how do they do it?

Peter Garrison

Wednesday, May 20, 2026 at 08:00 AM ET

Verified

Edited By:

Travis Tingle

Flight time may possibly be more affected by the rate at which ski jumpers slow down than by the rate at which they lose height. [Credit: U.S. Ski & Snowboard]

Key Takeaways:

The article refutes the common "airfoil" explanation for ski jumper lift, stating it's inaccurate because jumpers lack the wingspan for two-dimensional airflow.
Ski jumpers generate lift primarily through impact pressure on their undersides and the V-shape of their skis, with this lift being nearly equal to their drag.
Innovations in jumper technique, such as the V-stance, have been more instrumental in increasing flight distances than scientific aerodynamic advancements.
The author emphasizes that "lift" encompasses various aerodynamic phenomena beyond the classic airfoil principle, as seen in ski jumpers and different gliding animals.

See a mistake? Contact us.

NBC accompanied its coverage of the ski jumping events at the Winter Olympics with a graphic showing, in profile view, a schematic ski jumper prone over their skis, with a row of bold arrows marching along a curved path above them and a second row passing in a straight line below.

It was the classic explanation of an airfoil—curved top, flat bottom, air goes faster over the top, Bernoulli, etc. It might have been cribbed from a high school physics textbook.