Nordic Combined

2018 Winter Olympic Games, Events

January 22, 2014

2002 Winter Olympics: Men’s Nordic Combined 90M Ski-Jumping

The first of two 90-meter jumps for athletes in the Men’s Nordic Combined at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. The jumpers are, in order: Andy Hartman (Switzerland), Kevin Arnould (France), Christopher Bieler (Austria), Bill Demong (USA), Jaakko Tallus (Finland), Mario Stecher (Austria), Todd Lodwick (USA), Samppa Lajunen (Finland), Ronny Ackermann (Germany) and Felix Gottwald (Austria).

The Nordic combined events have been contested at the Winter Olympic Games since1924. The first competition involved 18 km cross-country skiing, followed by ski jumping. Whoever earned the most points from both competitions won the event. At the 1952 Winter Olympics, the ski jumping was held first, followed by 18 km cross-country skiing. The cross-country skiing portion was reduced to 15 km at the 1956 Winter Olympics. The ski jumping styles would change over the years as well, from the Kongsberger technique after World War I to the Daescher technique in the 1950s to the current V-style from 1985 onwards. The cross-country skiing technique would switch from classical to freestyle for all competitions beginning in 1985, but the biggest change would occur at the 1988 Winter Olympics in the scoring with the Gundersen method, meaning the 15 km cross country portion would go from an interval start race to a pursuit race, so that whoever crossed the finish line first won the event. The team event with a 3 x 10 km cross country relay started at the 1988 Winter Olympics, changing to the current 4 x 5 km cross-country relay at the 1998 Winter Olympics. The 7.5 km sprint event was added at the 2002 Winter Olympics. Nordic combined remains a men’s only event as of the 2010 Winter Olympics. For the 2010 Winter Games, the 15 km Individual Gundersen which consisted of 2 jumps from the normal hill followed by 15 km cross country will be replaced by a 10 km individual normal hill event which will consist of one jump from the individual normal hill following by 10 km of cross country using the Gundersen system while the 7.5 km sprint will be replaced by the 10 km individual large hill event.