The distance they jump/the speed at which they fall seems like it would be impossible to land without falling flat on your face. There is obviously some cool physics going on, but please.
In: Mathematics
It’s not the fall that kills you but the sudden stop. You’ll notice ski jumpers land on a downslope not flat ground. If they were to land on flat ground it would be like hitting a wall. Since the downslope roughly matches the trajectory of their fall and slowly flattens out, there is not sudden stop. The forces get converted from downward motion to forward speed.
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