Ski jumping, one of the three Nordic skiing events is a winter sport originated from Morgedal, Norway. In this discipline skiers go downhill with the take-off ramp, making an attempt to land as far as possible. As well as the length that skiers jump, referees award points for style. In ski jumping the skis are long and wide, and simply attach to the toes skier.
The first official ski jumping competition was organized in Trysil in 1862. However, the first generally known ski jumping contest was held in 1879 in Husebybakken, Oslo. The venue of the annual event was shifted to Holmenkollen in 1892, and Holmenkollen has been known as the ski jumping's Mecca ever since.
Today, ski jumping competitions are carried out on two forms of hills:
-- "Normal hill", which is 90 m high. Jump distances of up to 110 meters are attainable.
-- "Large hill", which is 120 m high. The longest distance possible is about 140 meters. Both team and individual competitions are held on this hill.
Individual competition at the Olympics comprises one training jump and two score jumps. The team competition involves four members having two jumps each.
The Nordic combined is another winter sport of the group of Nordic skiing events in which participants are involved in both ski jumping and cross-country skiing disciplines.
Before the 1960s, the cross-country contest was run first, after that the ski jumping event was held. This was reversed because the divergence in the cross-country competition had a tendency to be too large to beat in ski jumping.
At this time there are four kinds of combined Nordic skiing events. The most familiar is the individual race, otherwise known as Individual Gundersen. This variant takes in two jumps from a jumping hill, along with 15 km cross country race.
Cross-country skiing (a.k.a. XC skiing) is popular in many countries with large snowfields, for the most part in Canada and Northern Europe. The recognition of the event is rapidly increasing in the United States.
As a sport, cross-country skiing is one of the Nordic skiing events. Cross-country skiing with free technique is also the locomotion method in the biathlon competitions, which encompass rifle shooting and skiing. In the present day, there are a number of types of competitive events in cross-country skiing, involving races of various lengths and types, similar to biathlon, which features a combination of skiing and rifle shooting. The FIS World Championships, the Winter Olympic Games, and the FIS World Cup competitions have long time been a show-case for the fastest cross country skiers of the world.
The World Championships in Nordic skiing have been carried out in various types and numbers of sports since 1925 for male athletes and include women since 1954. The World Championships in Nordic skiing events include three disciplines of Nordic skiing: Ski jumping, Cross-country skiing (a.k.a. XC skiing), and Nordic combined. The World Championships in Nordic skiing have been organized every odd-numbered year since 1985. The Winter Olympic Games were also regarded as World Championship events until 1980.