Nordic combined is a winter sport in which athletes compete in cross-country skiing and ski jumping. The Nordic combined at the Winter Olympics has been held since the first Winter Olympics in 1924, while the FIS Nordic Combined World Cup has been held since 1983. Many Nordic combined competitions use the Gundersen method, where placement in the ski jumping segment results in time (dis)advantages added to the contestant's total in the cross-country skiing segment.
Anssi Einar Koivuranta is a retired Finnish ski jumper and former Nordic combined skier, best known for winning the 2008–09 FIS Nordic Combined World Cup. He won the gold medal in the 4 × 5 km team event and a bronze medal in the 15 km Gundersen race at the 2007 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships in Sapporo. After winning a Ski Jumping World Cup competition in Innsbruck on 4 January 2014, Koivuranta became the first ever athlete in history of ski jumping to win an event in both Nordic combined and the ski jumping World Cup.
The Nordic combined events have been contested at the Winter Olympic Games since 1924. The first competition involved 18 km cross-country skiing, followed by ski jumping.
Johnny Spillane is an American athlete who competes in Nordic combined, a combination event consisting of ski jumping and cross-country skiing. Spillane is a world champion and three-time Olympic silver medalist. He announced his retirement from Nordic combined on April 18, 2013.
The FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 2001 took place February 15–25, 2001 in Lahti, Finland for a record sixth time, previous events being held in 1926, 1938, 1958, 1978 and 1989. These championships also saw the most event changes since the 1950s with the 5 km women and 10 km men's events being discontinued, the 10 km women and 15 km men's events return to their normal status for the first time since the 1991 championships, the debut of a combined pursuit as a separate category, the addition of the individual sprint race for both genders, and the debut of the ski jumping team normal hill event. Extremely cold weather cancelled the women's 30 km event. The biggest controversy occurred when a doping scandal hit the host nation of Finland, resulting in six disqualifications. This would serve as a prelude to further doping cases in cross country skiing at the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City the following year.
The FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 2005 took place 16–27 February 2005 in Oberstdorf, Germany, for the second time after hosting it previously in 1987. The ski jumping team normal hill event returned after not being held in 2003. The double pursuit distances of 10 km women and 20 km men were lengthened to 15 km for women and 30 km for men. Team sprint was also added as well. The Nordic combined 4 × 5 km team event had its change between ski jumping points and cross-country skiing start time changed from 1 point equals to 1.5 seconds to 1 point equals 1 second at this championship.
The FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 2007 took place 22 February – 4 March 2007 in Sapporo, Japan. It was the second time this city has hosted these championships, having previously done so in the 1972 Winter Olympics. Sapporo was selected as venue by vote at the 43rd FIS World Congress in Portorož, Slovenia, on 6 June 2002. It also marked the third time the championships were hosted outside Europe in a year that did not coincide with the Winter Olympics; it was the first championship held in Asia. The ski jumping team normal hill event was not held, as it had been in 2005.
The FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 2009 took place 18 February – 1 March 2009 in Liberec, Czech Republic. This was the fourth time these championships were hosted either in the Czech Republic or in Czechoslovakia, having done so at Janské Lázně (1925) and Vysoké Tatry.
The FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 2011 took place from 23 February to 6 March 2011 in Oslo, Norway, at the Holmenkollen National Arena. It was the fifth time these championships had been hosted in Holmenkollen, having been done previously in 1930, the 1952 Winter Olympics, 1966, and 1982. On 25 May 2006, the 45th FIS Congress in Vilamoura, Portugal, selected the Holmenkollen area over both Val di Fiemme, Italy, and Zakopane, Poland, with a vote of 12 to 4 to 0. These games coincided with the Holmenkollen Ski Festival as they have previously in 1930, 1952, 1966, and 1982.
The FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 2015 took place between 18 February and 1 March 2015 in Falun, Sweden. This was the fourth time the event is held there, having previously been held there in 1954, 1974 and 1993. In 1980, one World Ski Championship race was held there as well, to make up for its exclusion from the Olympic Games the same year.
At the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 2009 in Liberec, Czech Republic, four Nordic combined were held. It also showed the biggest format changes since the introduction of the Gundersen method at the 1985 World Championships in Seefeld, Austria. In addition to the 10 km mass start event, there were changes in the Gundersen-based individual events. The 7.5 km sprint event was changed to a 10 km individual large hill event while the 15 km individual event was changed to a 10 km individual normal hill event with both being approved in September 2008. These changes also affected the Nordic combined program for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver though the mass start was excluded. The United States, which had two medals in Nordic combined prior to this championships, won a total of four medals with three golds and a bronze. Todd Lodwick, whose previous best individual finish at the world championships was 13th in the 7.5 km sprint at Oberstdorf in 2005, won golds in the 10 km mass start and 10 km individual normal hill events. His teammate Bill Demong won a gold in the 10 km individual large hill and bronze in the 10 km individual normal hill events. Germans Tino Edelmann and Björn Kircheisen each won a silver in the 4 x 5 km freestyle team event, then won individual silver medals in the 10 km mass start and 10 km individual large hills events, respectively. France's Jason Lamy Chappuis earned two bronze medals, earning them in the 10 km individual large hill and 10 km mass start. Norway's Jan Schmid won a silver in the 10 km mass start and a bronze in the 4 x 5 km freestyle event. A fourth American medal was prevented when Demong was disqualified in the ski jumping part of the 4 x 5 km freestyle team event for failing to wear his bib during competition, dropping the US to 12th and forcing their withdrawal from the cross country portion of the event. The Japanese won their first gold medal at the championships in the team event since 1995 when they edged the Germans in a photo finish. Current World Cup leader Anssi Koivuranta of Finland has a disappointing world championships, earning his best finish of fourth both in the 10 km individual normal hill and 10 km mass start events. Norway's Magnus Moan, second in the World Cup standings, also had a disappointing championships as well, with a best place finish of fifth in the 10 km individual large hill events even though he set the fastest cross-country skiing portion time in both the 10 km individual large hill and the 10 km individual normal hill events.
The men's individual large hill/10 km Nordic combined competition for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Canada was held at Whistler Olympic Park in Whistler, British Columbia on 25 February.
For the 1924 Winter Olympics in Chamonix, France, a total of three sports venues were used. The main stadium was used for all but two sports and part of a third. It was the first ski jump used for the Winter Olympics. A bobsleigh track was prepared for use.
For the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, New York, United States, a total of seven sports venues were used. All five of the venues used for the 1932 Winter Olympics were also used at the 1980 Winter Games with adjustments. These adjustments included electronic scoreboards, increased refrigeration, and the addition of a separate luge track. This was the last Winter Olympics where there were separate bobsleigh and luge tracks. The closest finish in Olympic history in cross-country skiing led skiing officials to time future events in hundredths of a second rather than tenths of a second. This would also apply to biathlon events. Eric Heiden won five gold medals at the speed skating oval while the "Miracle on Ice" took place between Americans and Soviets at the Olympic Center. In the late 1990s, the luge track was demolished and a new combination track was constructed in time for the only Winter Goodwill Games held. The sliding venue was named to the American National Register of Historical Places in February 2010.
For the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan, a total of fifteen sports venues were used. Nagano had attempted twice to host the Winter Olympics, losing out to Sapporo, host of the 1972 Winter Olympics. The third time, in 1991, Nagano edged out Salt Lake City to host the 1998 Games. The biathlon venue was adjusted in accordance with the Washington Convention over endangered species. The biggest venue controversy was at Happo'one resort on the length of the men's downhill and the battle that ensued to the point where skiing officials threatened to pull the event entirely before a compromise was reached three months before the Olympics. M-Wave has hosted three World Speed Skating Championships since the Olympics, while the Spiral has hosted a couple of world championships in bobsleigh, luge and skeleton.
The 41st FIS Nordic World Ski Championships were held from 20 February to 3 March 2019 in Seefeld in Tirol, Tyrol, Austria. It was the second time Seefeld in Tirol hosted the world championships, the event having been hosted there previously in 1985.
The FIS Nordic Junior World Ski Championships is an annual nordic skiing event organized by the International Ski Federation (FIS). The Junior World Championships was started in 1977 and was first hosted in Sainte-Croix, Switzerland. The Junior World Championship events include Nordic skiing's three disciplines: cross-country skiing, ski jumping, and nordic combined.
The 42nd FIS Nordic World Ski Championships were held from 24 February to 7 March 2021 in Oberstdorf, Germany. It was the third time that the World Championships have been held in Oberstdorf, having previously hosted the event in 1987 and 2005.
