Nordic combined brings together ski jumping and cross-country skiing in one of winter sport's toughest tests. Here's how the unusual competition works, and why Norway has played such an important role in its history.
Imagine launching yourself from a ski jump, landing safely, and then thinking: right, now for the cross-country race. That, in very simple terms, is Nordic combined.
The winter sport brings together two disciplines that require very different skills.
Ski jumping demands technique, precision and a considerable amount of nerve. Cross-country skiing requires endurance, strength and tactical awareness. To succeed at Nordic combined, an athlete needs both.
It also happens to be a sport with deep Norwegian roots. The first major competition took place at Oslo's Holmenkollen in the late 19th century, while Norway has remained one of the leading nations throughout much of the sport's history.
So, how exactly does Nordic combined work?
What is Nordic combined?
Nordic combined is part of the family of Nordic skiing disciplines, alongside cross-country skiing and ski jumping.
That's an important distinction from Alpine skiing. Whereas Alpine events are primarily about descending a mountain as quickly as possible, the Nordic disciplines developed from forms of skiing historically used to travel across snowy terrain.
In Nordic combined, athletes compete in both ski jumping and cross-country skiing. In the most traditional format, the jumping takes place first and determines the starting order for a pursuit-style cross-country race.
That creates one of the most interesting features of the sport. A brilliant ski jumper can build an advantage before the race begins, but then has to try to defend it against athletes who may be much faster on the cross-country course.
The ski jumping part
Let's start with the part that looks considerably more terrifying.
In ski jumping, athletes accelerate down a steep inrun before taking off from the end of the ramp and flying through the air. But simply jumping the furthest doesn't necessarily win.
Competitors receive points for distance and style, while modern scoring also makes adjustments for factors including wind conditions and changes to the starting gate.
Style judges consider factors such as the athlete's position in flight and the quality of the landing. A controlled telemark landing, with one foot slightly ahead of the other, is an important part of achieving a strong style score.
Ski jumping has a long history in Norway. One famous early recorded jump was made by Norwegian military officer Olaf Rye in 1808 or 1809. His 9.5-metre jump is sometimes described as the first ski jumping world record, although historians point out that it was not actually made during a formal jumping competition.
Norway's Sondre Norheim later became one of the great pioneers of skiing during the 19th century. His achievements helped popularise new techniques and equipment at a time when skiing was developing from a practical form of transport into recreation and organised sport.
The cross-country skiing part
The second half of Nordic combined is a very different challenge. Cross-country skiing requires athletes to race over a course containing flat sections, climbs and descents, using poles and skis to propel themselves forward.
If you've spent any time in Norway during the winter, you'll know just how important cross-country skiing is to Norwegian sporting culture.
Modern cross-country skiing has two main styles: classic and free technique. Classic skiing restricts athletes to traditional techniques such as diagonal stride and double-poling, while free technique permits the much faster skating motion.
Nordic combined races use free technique. In practice, that means you'll see the competitors skating for most of the race.
That's particularly important because the cross-country section isn't simply a test of survival after the jumping. For many competitors, it's where the competition is won or lost.
The Gundersen method
The best-known Nordic combined format is the .
Following the ski jumping competition, each athlete's score is converted into a time difference for the cross-country race. The best ski jumper starts first. Everyone else follows after a delay based on their jumping result.
At present, one jumping point in an Individual Gundersen corresponds to four seconds on the cross-country start line. So if an athlete finishes the jumping five points behind the leader, they begin the race 20 seconds later.
From that point onwards, things become wonderfully simple. The first athlete across the finish line wins.
That makes the cross-country section relatively easy for spectators to follow. There are no calculations needed at the finish and no waiting for judges' scores. If someone catches the leader on the final climb, they're genuinely fighting for the victory.
The system is named after Norwegian Nordic combined athlete and official Gunder Gundersen. Versions of the pursuit system were tested before becoming established internationally in the 1980s.
Other Nordic combined formats
The Gundersen remains the traditional format, but modern Nordic combined includes several variations. One of the newest is聽Individual Compact, introduced to the World Cup in the 2023-24 season.
The ski jumping still determines the order of the cross-country start, but instead of converting the precise points difference into time, competitors are given fixed time gaps according to their position.
For example, second place starts six seconds behind the best jumper and third place 12 seconds behind. By deliberately keeping the field closer together, the format creates more head-to-head racing and gives stronger cross-country skiers a better opportunity to attack.
Then there's the聽Mass Start, which reverses everything. All the competitors begin the cross-country race together. Their results are converted into points before the ski jumping round, which then decides the final standings.
Team competitions also form part of international Nordic combined. The Team Sprint features two athletes from each nation, whose jumping scores determine the starting gaps for a relay-style cross-country race. A Mixed Team format brings together two women and two men.
In other words, Nordic combined is no longer quite as simple as 鈥渏ump, then ski.鈥� But the principle remains the same: success requires excellence across two very different disciplines.
Nordic combined began in Norway
The origins of the organised sport are closely connected with Norway. The first major Nordic combined competition was held as part of the inaugural Holmenkollen Ski Festival in Oslo in 1892.
The idea was essentially to find the best all-round skier: someone capable of performing both on the jumping hill and over a demanding cross-country course.
That reflected the nature of early competitive skiing in Norway. Skiing had not yet divided neatly into the specialist disciplines we recognise today. Early competitions could involve racing across varied terrain with jumps included along the way.
The Holmenkollen festival went on to become one of the great institutions of Norwegian skiing.
Nordic combined then appeared at the first Olympic Winter Games in Chamonix in 1924, alongside cross-country skiing and ski jumping.
For more on how skiing developed here, read our guide to the history of skiing in Norway.
Nordic combined at the Winter Olympics
For more than a century, men's Nordic combined had an extraordinary Olympic record. From Chamonix in 1924 through to Milano Cortina in 2026, it appeared at every edition of the Winter Olympics.
At the 2026 Games in Italy, men competed in two Individual Gundersen competitions and a Team Sprint. The latter replaced the traditional four-athlete team competition, which had made its final Olympic appearance at Beijing 2022.
But 2026 also marked a major turning point. In July 2026, Nordic combined was for the French Alps 2030 Winter Olympics.
That means the sport's uninterrupted Olympic run, stretching all the way back to the first Winter Games, is coming to an end.
What about women in Nordic combined?
This has become one of the biggest issues facing the sport. For most of its history, international Nordic combined was almost exclusively a men's competition. That has changed dramatically in recent years.
The first women's Nordic Combined World Cup event took place in Ramsau, Austria, in December 2020, with American Tara Geraghty-Moats taking the historic first victory.
Just a few months later, women's Nordic combined made its World Championship debut at Oberstdorf in 2021. Norway's Gyda Westvold Hansen became the first women's world champion.
Women's competition has continued to develop since then. Mixed team events have become established at World Championship level, while women now compete internationally in many of the same formats as men.
However, women's Nordic combined was not added to the Olympic programme for Milano Cortina 2026. That left Nordic combined as the only sport at those Games in which women could not compete.
The situation became even more serious for the sport when the IOC decided not to include Nordic combined at all in the 2030 Olympics. FIS has continued to develop women's and mixed competitions, but there is currently no guaranteed route back to the Olympic programme.
The future of Nordic combine
Being dropped from the Olympics is undoubtedly a blow, especially for a sport that had been present since the very beginning of the Winter Games. But the Olympics aren't the whole story.
Nordic combined remains part of the , while men's and women's World Cup competitions take place throughout the winter.
The sport also continues to evolve, with new formats designed to create closer racing and a growing emphasis on women's and mixed competition. For Norway, Nordic combined also retains a special place in skiing history.
More than 130 years after competitors gathered at Holmenkollen to find out who was the best all-round skier, the challenge remains much the same. First, fly through the air. Then race everyone to the finish line. Easy, right?
Have you ever watched Nordic combined? Perhaps you've even tried ski jumping or cross-country skiing yourself? Let us know in the comments below.
