Boklöv won with V-style despite judges' penalties

Competitive ski jumping in the 1980s scored jumpers on two combined factors: the objective distance flown, and a subjective style score awarded by judges for form in flight, which by convention meant keeping the skis parallel and close together — any other position was judged a technical flaw and marked down.

The V-shaped stance was aerodynamically superior for a straightforward physical reason: spreading the skis into a V created a wider surface that caught more air and presented a better angle to the oncoming airflow, generating roughly 28% more lift than the traditional parallel-ski position.

Kept using the V-style despite style-point penalties, betting that repeated distance wins would force the judging criteria to catch up to what actually worked.

The V-style gave 28% more lift, so Boklöv consistently outjumped rivals on distance.

Distance was objectively measured, so his wins couldn't be argued away by style judges.

Repeated wins across a season made the technique's superiority undeniable to other jumpers.

Once rivals adopted the V-style and won too, judges had to update the scoring criteria.

When a better method is penalized by outdated criteria, keep using it and let objective results force the criteria to change.

Boklöv went on to win the 1988–89 FIS Ski Jumping World Cup overall title, taking five individual World Cup victories that season while competing almost entirely alone in his technique against a field still jumping parallel. As rival jumpers and coaches saw the same distance advantage repeat across an entire season regardless of the style penalty, the V-style spread through the sport; by the early 1990s every competitive ski jumper had adopted it, and judging criteria were rewritten to score the V-style as correct technique rather than a flaw.