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Time Mesurement in Nordic Skiing

©1993 NAOC TM NAOC 7-056

Ski competition from Norway


Nordic skiing developed in Northern Europe, mainly in Norway.
Crosscountry skiing runs a long distance and ski jump flys in the air from the jumping slope. There is also Nordic Combined in which crosscountry time and ski jump distance are scored.



Crosscountry skiing


Crosscountry skiing is called snow marathon.
The skiers run up and down the hill and compete for the time. There are 5km, 10km, 15km, 30km, 50km races and relay races of 4 X 5km and 4 X 10km.
There are also free style and classical style skiing.



From the starting gate to the final electric beam


In crosscountry race, the timer starts when the skier pushes the starting bar and stops when the skier crosses the electric beam at the goal.
Time is measured every 1/10 second. In the individual race, skier starts every 30 seconds one after another.
So that the skier that reaches the goal first is not necessarly the winner. Maximam of 11 electric beams are set on the course and mid time of each skier is measured and displayed on the score board.
Thus the people can see the position of each skier on the score board.



Ski jump


A ski jumper flies twice and the skier's form in the air and the landing distance are scored.
The normal hill (k-point=90m) and the large hill (k-point=120m) are used for the individual competition. The large hill is also used for the team competition.
Five judges evaluate the skier's form and each judge gives them maximum of 20 points.
However the best and the worst scores are dropped off, and the sum of medium three scores are recorded.
Flying to the k-point matches 60 points. Every one meter, the skier gets 2 more points or lose 2 points for normal hill. For the large hill, one meter matches 1.8 point.



New measurement system of flight distance


The flight distance used to be measured visually by the judges.
However the newest system has a highspeed video camera which captures the landing moment of the skier. By replaying the landing motion on the monitor, precise distance measurement became possible.



Nordic Combined


Nordic Combined consists of the individual and the team race.
Both competition take two days starting with ski jump on the first day and the crosscountry skiing on the second day.
The jump scores on the first day are converted into delay start time of the crosscountry on the second day.
Jump score 10 matches 1 minute delay of the start in the individual competition. Jump score 9 matches 1 minute in the team race. The jumper with the best score starts the crosscountry race first followed by the other racers depending on their delay start time.
This way of competition is called Gundersen method in which the skier that reaches the goal first is the winner.