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Nordic Combined at EYOWF 2011 Competition Programme
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Categories
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Races
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Boys
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Individual - jump HS100 / cross country 7,5 km
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Teams Sprint - jump HS100 /cross country 2 x 4 km
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Detailed Nordic Combined programme here.
For Invitation and Official Programme of Nordic Combined click here.
ABOUT THIS SPORT
Nordic Combined is rightfully called the royal discipline of classic (Nordic) skiing; it has remained a strictly men’s sport. The skiers must combine the dynamic power, speed, and concentration necessary for ski jumping with the endurance and technique essential for cross country skiing.
It originated, like the other classic disciplines, in Norway. Nordic Combined was included in the first Winter Olympic Games in Chamonix, France, in 1924, and has always been part of the Olympic Games programme.
Just like its individual disciplines, jumping and cross country skiing, Nordic Combined underwent various developments, as well as a remarkable shift in the sphere of sports equipment and technique. Yet the principles of the race remained the same for many years: cross country skiing followed the jumping part. Since 1990s, Nordic Combined has experienced huge changes. In attempt to make this sport more attractive, new types of races have gradually appeared – mass starts; team sprints; hurricane sprints.
One of the revolutionary events in the history of Nordic Combined was – aside from changing the cross country technique from classic to free – the introduction of the Gundersen method in 1985. This method converts the jumping points to seconds; the jumping winner than starts the cross country section first, followed by other skiers in calculated time intervals. This method makes the cross country skiing part of the Nordic Combined highly interesting for the audience, as the athlete who reaches the finish first is the winner.
Race types
Individual / Gundersen race
Gundersen race begins with two rounds of ski jumping. The jumping score is converted to seconds; the winner then starts first on a 15 km loop. The remaining skiers follow with calculated time loss.
Sprint
Sprint follows the same principle as that of individual race, but it only has one jumping round and the cross country part is 7.5 km long.
Hurricane sprint
Hurricane race is a new race type. It is also based on Gundersen method of point conversion, but the points converted to seconds are consequently converted to metres (1 sec – 6m). All athlets start the cross country part at once; the last jumper has to overcome the longest distance, given by the jumping penalties. The athlete who gets into the finish first is the winner.
| Interesting numbers |
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medals in Nordic Combined gained at the very first World Championships in Nordic skiing in Janské Lázně in 1925, in what then was the Czechoslovakia, Czech athletes (Otakar Německý - gold, Josef Adolf - silver)
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is the number of golden olympic medals former German athlete Ulrich Wehling won in Individual in Sapporo 1972, Innsbruck 1976 and Lake Placid 1980.
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Mass start
Mass start is an entirely new race type and it was introduced to top competitions at the FIS World Championships in Liberec in 2009 for the first time. Its basics lie in discipline exchange – the skiers begin with a mass start cross country race, and only afterwards they proceed into the jumping part.
Team
Team races follow principles similar to individuals. They have two jumping rounds, followed by the cross country part. The jumping scores of all four team members are totalled, the points are converted to seconds, and team members then start, with a specific time loss, the relay of 4 x 5km.
Team sprint
Team sprint is a race where the team consists of two skiers. It has one competition jumping round, the scores of both skiers are totalled, and the relay race follows. Each skier does 4 loops 1 000 metres long, passing the relay to his partner after each loop. Each skier has to do the total of 4 km.
Assessment of Nordic Combined
Except for the mass start, the athlete / team that reaches the finish in the cross country part first is the winner. The jumps in Nordic Combined are assessed just like the jumps of ski jump-specialists: Contestants are given table points for jump length, and points from five jumping judges (the highest and lowest scores are ignored) for the jump technique. If there are two jumping competition rounds, the points for both jumps are totalled. Consequently, the resulting points for the jumping part are converted to seconds. The conversion table considers the cross country loop length (e.g. for a 10 km cross country part, 1 point loss from the jumping part means 4 seconds of handicap in the cross country part). If the contester looses 10 points to the winner in the jumping part, he follows him with a 40 second interval).
ABOUT VENUES - SPORTS VENUE VESEC AND SKI JUMPING VENUE JEŠTĚD
 Sports venue VesecThe sports venue Vesec was completed in 2008. It is situated on the south side of Liberec at 410 – 460 metres above sea level. The venue was build in connection with the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships and also in order to make the cross country courses available to the public, to avoid the long journeys to the mountain areas. At the same time, competitions are held here not only in winter but the venue is used also for mountain bike, athletics, and in-line skating competitions.
The venue features a stadium, the starting and finishing point for all courses. A building for technical and organisational facilities of individual competitions stands next to the stadium. The stadium surroundings are interwoven with a system of courses, which, when combined, are of various lengths depending on the requirements and types of individual competitions. All courses are approved and homologated by the International Ski Federation.
The venue is equipped with a snowmaking system, so in case of a lack of snow – and favourable weather conditions – the whole venue can be covered with artificial snow.
Events held here:
Cross Country Skiing World Cup
Nordic Combined World Cup
National Championships
Ski Jumping venue Ještěd
The ski jumping hills are on the North side of the Ještěd ridge at the level starting from 653 (outrun) to 788 metres above sea level (inrun). The Ski Jumping venue features two hills - HS134 (former K120) and HS100 (K-90) with a shared outrun.
For the purposes of the EYOWF 2011 competition the smaller jumping hill will be used. The ski jumping hill HS100 is a hill with a natural inrun. The cooled inrun track will provide identical conditions for all competitors.
Following a remodelling in 2008 a six-floor administrative building grew next to the outrun. It should provide support for the entire process of the ski jumping competitions. The building is inserted in the slope and therefore only two floors can be seen from the outrun side; so the building is not protruding over the hills or the grandstands. On the building there is placed the scoreboard for spectators and athletes. At the outrun level at the building a concrete area of 10 x 30 m has been built to provide a facility for the jumpers during the competition.
 During the extensive remodelling the judge tower was also modernized and now it meets even the strictest criteria of the International Ski Federation. The five-floor building is used as a facility for the competition management, for the competition jury, jumping judges, competition offices, and data & timing technology together with technical back offices. Complete process of jumping races wil be provided from this place.
The hills are lit with an intensity of 1,000 lx and therefore the competition is planned to be held in the evening.
The venue features one fixed grandstand for spectators. That is located on the West side and can seat more than 8,000 spectators. The coaches’ grandstand, a warming room, a cableway for the athletes (the boarding point is about 20 m from their facility), 20 cabins designated as the facilities for the athletes, and the possibility of artificial snowmaking are naturally included.
The whole venue is accessible thanks to the roads, which are maintained even in winter.
Competitions held here:
International Ski Jumping series Bohemian Tournament held from 1973 to1994
World Cup Ski Jumping in 2000, 2003, 2004
Nordic Combined World Cup - Ski Jumping
Continental Cup Ski Jumping
Annual local Ski Jumping competitions
World Masters Alpine Championship 2005
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