Nordic Combined

I

Introduction

Nordic Combined, winter sports discipline that combines ski jumping and cross-country skiing in a single event. True to its name the nordic combined originated in Norway and has since been dominated by Nordic skiers. It is considered a true overall test of a skier with the jumping requiring strength and control and the cross-country demanding stamina and endurance.

II

Equipment and Clothing

For the ski jumping element of the discipline skiers wear an all-in-one suit, goggles, protective helmet, and gloves. The boots have connection cords at the back that are attached to the skis for stability and to allow the skier to lean forward in flight.

In the cross-country the athletes wear similar clothing but the boots are attached to the skis at the toe and extra ankle support is provided. Ski length is generally dictated by the height of the skier but they are generally narrower and lighter than the skis used in alpine skiing. Skiers use wax on them to increase the glide across the snow. Cross-country skiers also use poles to push themselves forwards.

III

Rules of the Sport

In major competition there are three major events: the individual, or “Gundersen”, which takes place on the normal ski-jumping hill (K90), followed by 15 km cross-country; the individual sprint, which takes place on the large hill (K120), followed by a 7.5 km cross-country sprint; and the team event, on the normal hill (K90) and then a 4 x 5 km relay race. All cross-country races take place the day after the ski jumping. In the sprint event there is one ski jump undertaken, compared to the two in the other two events. At present four skiers form the relay team; until the 1998 Nagano Winter Olympics the relay was for teams of three, who each skied a cross-country course of 10 km. Skiers use the freestyle form of cross-country skiing rather than the classical style. There is currently no women's competition at the Olympic Games.

In the individual event each skier takes two jumps, which are scored by the judges on style, technical performance and then distance achieved, as per the regular ski-jumping competition. These combined scores are then taken forward into the cross-country. The Gunderson scores were introduced in 1988 to convert the points achieved in the ski jumping into time advantages in the cross-country (15 points difference in the ski jump equates to one minute advantage in the cross-country race). Therefore, the winner of the ski jump leads off in the cross-country race, with the other competitors leaving at intervals behind. Thus the winner of the competition is the first to cross the line, ensuring that the sport works as a spectacle for the viewing public. In the relay event all the eight jumps by a team count towards the points total leading into the cross-country event (40 points difference in the ski jump equates to one minute advantage in the cross-country race). The winning team is the first to get all its skiers home.

See also individual entries for Cross-Country Skiing and Ski Jumping for more details.

The governing body is the Fédération Internationale de Ski (FIS), founded in 1924 and based at Oberhofen, Austria.

IV

History

Nordic skiing dates from around 5,000 years ago. Scandinavian armies moved their troops around by skis in the 16th century and by 1767 the Norwegian army held the first nordic skiing competition. Spurred on by the Norwegian skier Søndre Nordheim, who in the 1840s first developed a device to hold the heel steady on a ski, which ensured the skier could turn the ski and perform more complicated manoeuvres, competitive skiing advanced and in 1843 a major event took place in Tromsø, Norway. The first major competition in nordic combined was held in 1892 in Oslo at the first Holmenkollen Ski Festival—an event that continues to this day.