Goodwill Games

Events/Disciplines: Sprint and Team

Venue: MacKenzie-Intervale Ski Jump Complex

Competition Schedule: Sprint: Saturday, February 19
   Ski Jump - 10:00 am
   Cross Country - 2:30 pm

Team: Sunday, February 20
   Ski Jump - 10:00 am
   Cross Country - 3:30 pm

Number of Athletes: 24 men

Competition Format: Sprint (24 men)
   Ski Jump - 120m; 1 jump per athlete
   Cross country - 7.5k (5 laps on the 1.5k loop),
     Gundersen start

Team (12 teams of 2)
   Ski Jump - 120m; 2 jumps per athlete,
     total of 4 jumps is divided by 2
     to determine start list for cross country
   Cross country - 7.5k per athlete, 15k total;
     each team member completes the 1.5k loop
     5 times, alternating with their teammate.

Brief Description: Often called "The decathlon of skiing," nordic combined combines explosive strength on takeoff in ski jumping with endurance, stamina and speed in cross country skiing. As in regular ski jumping, athletes get a training jump and then receive points based on the distance of their two official jumps. The cross country race uses the Gundersen Handicap Method, with the top jumper starting first and everyone going after him, penalized time based on how far back each skier was in the jumping; this sometimes creates a frantic - but exciting, crowd/TV-friendly start situation because you may have many skiers close together instead of the standard 30-second interval start in Cross Country races. The first skier to complete the course wins! With multiple loops, it means the spectators see a continual string of racing while TV can maximize on-course coverage.

Sprint - The individual sprint involves one skier by himself in a 7.5-km Cross Country race. Everytime the skier passes someone, he/she moves up in the race.

2-man Sprint - The 2-man sprint includes a 15-km race as opposed to the 7.5-km of the individual event. The 2-man has that additional element of teamwork. One skier may be stronger, faster, slicker...but sometimes athletes perform better in this setting because they don't want to let their teammate down. Each skier races the 1.5-km loop, tags off and tries to recoup while his partner is skiing. But, with maybe four minutes between tags, there isn't a lot of time to catch your breath.