The Nordic combined is a winter sport in which competitors involve in
both cross-country skiing and ski jumping.
History
While Norwegian soldiers are known to have been competing in nordic skiing
since the 18th century, the first major competition in nordic combined was held
in 1892 in Oslo at the first Holmenkollen Ski Festival, an event still held
annually. In Norway, popularity of the Holmenkollrenn, and Nordic combined in
general, was great, and in fact separate ski jumping events weren't held at
Holmenkollen until 1933.
The sport was included at the 1924 Winter Olympics, and has been on the
programme ever since. World Championships have been held since 1925.
Traditionally, Norway has always delivered top athletes in the sport, but
Finland, Germany, Austria and Japan are also among the top nations in the Nordic
combined. As of 2004, top athletes in the sport include triple Olympic Champion
Samppa Lajunen, Ronny Ackermann and Johnny Spillane.
Competition
Until the 1960s, the cross-country race was held first, followed by the ski
jumping. This was reversed as the difference in the cross-country race tended to
be too big to overcome in ski jumping.
There are currently four kinds of Nordic combined events. The most common is
the individual race, also known as the Individual Gundersen. This event
encompasses two jumps from a ski jumping hill, and 15 km cross country skiing.
Points are scored in ski jumping for distance and style. The distance points
being 2 points per meter (1.2 for hills with a K-point of 100 m or farther), and
the style points range between 3 and 30 per jump. In the cross-country race, 15
points difference in the ski jump equal one minute. The racers with most ski
jumping points will start first, followed by the next best jumper after as much
time as there was difference in their jumping scores. This means that the first
skier to cross the finish line is also the winner of the event. This method of
competition, also known as the Gundersen method, was introduced in the late
1980s. Before, athletes would start the final race in intervals, and the gold
medal would be decided on points.
The sprint event is basically the same, but only one jump is performed, and
the cross-country distance is 7.5 km.
Recently, a newer form called "Hurricane sprint" has been introduced, which
is similar to the sprint using the Gundersen method, but based on extra distance
rather than extra time. The distance is still 7.5 km, but only the best
contestant from the ski jumping will run exactly that distance -- all others
start a given distance behind, based on their scores from the ski jumping. As
the estimated official speed of a cross-country skier is 6 m/s, this means that
the contestants start 24 m behind the leader for every point they are behind (to
match roughly with the time penalties from the Gundersen method). This form is
still being under evaluation.
In the mass start event, the cross country race is held first. The winner of
that event receives 120 points, the others get 15 points subtracted for each
minute behind the leader. In the ski jump, no style points are awarded, although
jumpers receive fewer points for falling or failing to make a Telemark landing.
The team event is again similar to the individual event, but contested by
teams of four athletes. Each takes 2 jumps from the ski jump hill, with all
jumps counting towards the team total. Forty points difference equals a one
minute advantage in the second event, the 4 x 5 m cross-country relay.ay.
There is currently no women's competition in the Olympic games.
| 2006 Winter Olympics
medal count |
| Pos |
Country |
Gold |
Silver |
Bronze |
Total |
| 1 |
Germany |
11 |
12 |
6 |
29 |
| 2 |
United States |
9 |
9 |
7 |
25 |
| 3 |
Austria |
9 |
7 |
7 |
23 |
| 4 |
Russia |
8 |
6 |
8 |
22 |
| 5 |
Canada |
7 |
10 |
7 |
24 |
| 6 |
Sweden |
7 |
2 |
5 |
14 |
| 7 |
Korea |
6 |
3 |
2 |
11 |
| 8 |
Switzerland |
5 |
4 |
5 |
14 |
| 9 |
Italy |
5 |
0 |
6 |
11 |
| 10 |
France |
3 |
2 |
4 |
9 |
| Netherlands |
3 |
2 |
4 |
9 |
| 12 |
Estonia |
3 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
| 13 |
Norway |
2 |
8 |
9 |
19 |
| 14 |
China |
2 |
4 |
5 |
11 |
| 15 |
Czech Republic |
1 |
2 |
1 |
4 |
| 16 |
Croatia |
1 |
2 |
0 |
3 |
| 17 |
Australia |
1 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
| 18 |
Japan |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
| 19 |
Finland |
0 |
6 |
3 |
9 |
| 20 |
Poland |
0 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
| 21 |
Belarus |
0 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
| Bulgaria |
0 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
| Great Britain |
0 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
| Slovakia |
0 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
| 25 |
Ukraine |
0 |
0 |
2 |
2 |
| 26 |
Latvia |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
| |
|
84 |
84 |
84 |
252 |
|
