Nordic Combined

Nordic combined originated in Norway, since the middle of the 19th century ski games were mainly held at Holmenkollen (near Oslo). Nordic combined played a major role here. The Nordic combination became internationally important when it became Olympic at the 1st Winter Olympic Games in Chamonix in 1924. At that time, however, only one individual race was held, which the Norwegian Thorleif Haug was able to win. Up until World War II, Nordic combined was dominated by the Norwegians.

The Nordic combination (consisting of the individual disciplines ski jumping and cross-country skiing) is considered the supreme discipline of Nordic skiing. Various competitions such as individual race, sprint, mass start, relay and team sprint are held. In 1948, the order of the disciplines (apart from the mass start, which was added later) was reversed, with jumping first and then running. In the years that followed, the point tables, the number of jumps and the length of the cross-country course were changed several times. The 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary brought about a significant change with the Gundersen method. Here the deficit in points from jumping is converted into a deficit in time for running. At the same time, a team competition was introduced. In 1999, the sprint was added as the youngest competition in international competitions, which has also been Olympic since the 2002 Winter Olympics.

The FIS (Fédération Internationale de Ski) has organized a Nordic Combined World Cup since the 1983/1984 season. In addition to the Olympic disciplines, mass start races also take place there regularly. On January 3rd, 2007, for the first time in World Cup history, a team sprint was held in Ruhpolding (Bavaria).