Most Competitive Events

The World Cup competitions where the leading athletes were separated by the smallest differences in total points.

Rules

• Only the top 12 finishers from each competition are compared.
• Competitiveness is measured using the standard deviation of their final points.
• A lower standard deviation represents a more closely contested competition.

The top 12 reflects a spectator’s perspective, as attention is usually focused on the leading group rather than every participant. Final points and positions come from the competition_results materialized view.

Ranking the events

with fiercest_competitions as (
	select
		cr.race_id,
		stddev(total_points) as stddev,
		min(total_points) as lowest_score,
		max(total_points) as highest_score
	from competition_results cr
	where pos < 13
	group by cr.race_id
	order by stddev
	limit 15
)
select
	to_char(c.competition_started, 'Mon MM YYYY') as date,
	c.hill_city || ' HS' || c.hill_size as hill,
	fc.lowest_score::decimal(10,2),
	fc.highest_score::decimal(10,2),
	fc.stddev::decimal(10,2) as standard_deviation
from fiercest_competitions fc
join competitions c using (race_id)
order by standard_deviation;

Results

date	hill	lowest_score	highest_score	standard_deviation
Dec 12 2021	Klingenthal HS140	253.00	267.00	3.76
Feb 02 2024	Lake Placid HS128	267.50	278.90	4.35
Nov 11 2018	Wisla HS134	247.80	263.40	4.44
Mar 03 2026	Oslo HS134	115.00	128.70	4.77
Mar 03 2026	Lahti HS130	116.80	129.30	4.79
Jan 01 2019	Zakopane HS134	261.00	278.30	4.98
Mar 03 2024	Trondheim HS105	266.90	280.90	5.01
Feb 02 2021	Zakopane HS140	283.00	298.10	5.06
Nov 11 2018	Ruka HS142	124.90	142.00	5.15
Feb 02 2020	Tauplitz/ Bad Mitterndorf HS235	218.30	232.60	5.25
Mar 03 2022	Oslo HS134	254.40	270.40	5.43
Feb 02 2021	Rasnov HS97	241.60	257.90	5.54
Dec 12 2024	Wisla HS134	261.20	276.80	5.55
Jan 01 2021	Lahti HS130	250.80	265.90	5.66
Dec 12 2018	Engelberg HS140	283.10	302.00	5.67

The closest competition

The leading group from the most competitive event identified in the dataset can be retrieved with find_race_id:

select
	cr.pos,
	j.jumper_name || ' (' || j.jumper_country || ')' as jumper,
	cr.total_points::decimal(10, 2)
from competition_results cr
join jumpers j using (jumper_id)
where race_id = find_race_id(2021, 'Klingenthal', 3)
limit 12;

Results

pos	jumper	total_points
1	KRAFT Stefan (AUT)	267.00
2	GRANERUD Halvor Egner (NOR)	262.00
3	STOCH Kamil (POL)	261.90
4	EISENBICHLER Markus (GER)	257.90
4	GEIGER Karl (GER)	257.90
6	WELLINGER Andreas (GER)	257.50
7	KOBAYASHI Ryoyu (JPN)	257.30
8	JOHANSSON Robert (NOR)	257.20
9	LINDVIK Marius (NOR)	257.00
10	HOERL Jan (AUT)	256.70
11	PASCHKE Pius (GER)	254.10
12	PEIER Killian (SUI)	253.00