Nordic combined is a winter sport that merges ski jumping and cross‑country skiing into one combined competition.

Quick definition

  • Athletes first do a ski jump, aiming for distance and style points.
  • Their jumping score then determines their start position and time delay for the cross‑country ski race (using the Gundersen Method , which converts points into staggered start times).
  • The first skier to cross the finish line in the cross‑country race wins overall.

How a typical event works

  1. Ski jumping phase
    • Each athlete jumps off a specially built hill (normal or large hill) and is scored on distance plus style by judges.
 * Wind and gate (start‑bar) adjustments are applied so conditions are fair.
  1. Cross‑country phase
    • Jumping points are converted into time gaps: the best jumper starts first, others chase with delays based on how many points they are behind.
 * This makes it easy to follow: whoever finishes the ski race first is the overall winner.

A simple way to picture it: imagine a long‑jump contest immediately followed by a distance run, and your jump result decides how much head start you get in the run—but on snow, with skis.

Events and Olympic context

  • Nordic combined has been part of the Winter Olympics since the first Games in 1924 and traditionally was seen as a “classic” Nordic event in Scandinavia.
  • Olympic formats include individual events (normal hill/10 km and large hill/10 km) plus a team event where four athletes each jump and then ski a relay.
  • As of 2022, only men had events at the Olympic Winter Games, though there is active discussion about adding women’s Nordic combined in the future and even debate about the sport’s long‑term Olympic status.

Style, difficulty, and “ultimate athlete” idea

  • The two disciplines demand almost opposite qualities: ski jumping favors nerve, technique, and aerodynamic form, while cross‑country skiing is all about endurance and pacing.
  • Because succeeding in both is so hard, the sport is often described as a test of the ultimate all‑around winter athlete.

Who dominates and why it’s “Nordic”

  • The “Nordic” name reflects its Scandinavian roots, especially Norway, which has historically dominated major championships and leads the Olympic medal table in Nordic combined.
  • Germany, Finland, and Austria are also powerhouse nations, with multiple champions and deep traditions in the sport.

TL;DR: Nordic combined = one ski jump competition + one cross‑country race, linked by a points‑to‑time system so that the race finish order decides the final result.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.