INTRODUCTION: Slopestyle competitions show high injury rates 1. There is a debate questioning whether the responsibility lies with the organizers that allow jumps that induce high equivalent fall height (EFH), or with athlete actions during the flight. The aim of this project was to investigate athlete behavior along with EFH, to see how they impacted landing stability for World Cup Slopestyle athletes on ski and snowboard. Landing stability was used as a surrogate measure of injury risk. METHODS: The data was collected from a Slopestyle competition in Seiser Alm, using a geodetic video method. 3-dimensional models of the athletes` center of mass trajectories were reconstructed, so physical parameters such as EFH could be calculated. A subjective assessment of the runs was done to extract landing stability and athlete behavioral factors including airtime, degrees of rotations, average angular velocity (w_avg), axial motions of maneuvers performed, and athlete orientation during landing. Rotational direction for snowboarders were also assessed. RESULTS: Firstly, EFH increased the probabilities of failed landings for both skiers and snowboarders. Secondly, athlete behavior impacted landing stability to a larger degree for snowboarders compared to skiers. For skiers, multiaxial maneuvers increased the odds of failed landings, but in interaction with increased w_avg, the odds were reduced. Snowboarders showed higher odds for failed landings when w_avg increased, but lower odds when the number of rotations increased, or with multiaxial maneuvers. A combination of multiaxial maneuvers and frontside rotations or switch landings, however, showed higher odds for failed landings. DISCUSSION/CONCLUSION: EFH affected landing stability for both skiers and snowboarders, emphasizing that jump construction should focus on keeping EFH low. Athlete behavior also impacted landing stability and affected snowboarders more than skiers. This may be explained by differences in attachment to equipment and ability to compensate for instabilities during landing. This investigation suggests that organizers and athletes share the responsibility, and that further research should look at the interplay between jump design and athlete behavior to reduce injury risk.
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