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How to watch the Nordic Festival

Some of best Nordic skiers in the world competing at Whistler Olympic Park over next 10 day

World Cup and Olympic test events for three out of four Nordic sports — ski jumping, cross country and Nordic combined — will be held at Whistler Olympic Park over the next 10 days.

An Olympic test event for the fourth Nordic sport, biathlon, will be held in March.

The three events this month will count for 54 medals awarded in 2010, with 36 cross-country medals, nine Nordic combined medals and nine ski jumping medals awarded at the Olympics. If a lawsuit launched by female ski jumpers for inclusion in the Games is successful there could be up to nine additional medals awarded.

All three sports have been part of the Winter Games since the beginning in 1924, but have histories that go back a lot further than that. For example, people have been cross-country skiing since the 1500s, and the first recorded competition was in 1767.

While it may seem simple — the first cross-country skier to the finish line wins, the ski jumper who goes the farthest takes the gold — it’s actually a lot more complicated. For example, the first person to the line in a cross-country sprint race is not necessarily the winner, and the longest jumper may get docked a few style points and wind up in second or third.

To help you get more out of the 2009 Nordic Festival events — all of which are free to the public — Pique has put together a short list of rules to help spectators understand what’s going on.

 

Cross country

The Viessmann FIS Cross-Country World Cup, presented by Rauch, takes place from Jan. 16 to 18, with sprint, team sprint and individual pursuit races for men and women.

The Individual Spring races are on Friday, Jan. 16, with the qualification from 9:30 a.m. to 10:15 a.m., followed by the finals from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.

The women ski a 1.2 km course and the men a 1.6 km course, and start in 15 second intervals. Although skiers try to post the fastest time, they also try to pass as many skiers as possible on their way to the finish.

The top 30 athletes from the qualifier move on to the quarter finals, where they compete against five other skiers in six-skier heats. Only the fastest two skiers in each heat move on to the next round until the finals. The win goes to the first skier across the finish line in the A final race, and not the fastest time overall.

The Pursuit races are on Saturday, Jan. 17 with the 15+15 km Pursuit Men’s race from 9 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. and the 7.5+7.5 km Pursuit Women’s race from 12:45 p.m. to 1:30 p.m.

This event gets underway with a mass start, and combines both classic and freestyle techniques. The first half (15 km for men and 7.5 km for women) is classic, then they change skis and poles as quickly as possible to attack the second half of the race with skate skis. There are short loops through the stadium, and competitors pass through every six to eight minutes. The winner is the first skier to the finish line.

The Team Sprint takes place on Sunday, with men’s and women’s qualification from 9 a.m. to 10:15 a.m., and the finals from 11 a.m. until noon.

The format is similar to the Individual Sprint, except that the racers are in teams of two with each skier making three laps each round, and different numbers of teams are included in the heats. Only the best five teams from each of two semi-final rounds move on to the finals.

The exchange is often where this event is won or lost. Athletes must physically touch their teammate inside a designated pass-off area without obstructing other teams.

Canadians have solid medal hopefuls on both the men’s and women’s teams. On the men’s side, two athletes to watch for specifically include Devon Kershaw, who won gold and bronze medals at the European Tour de Ski last week, and Ivan Babikov, who won gold at the Tour de Ski.

On the women’s side, Olympic medalists Chandra Crawford and Sara Renner will be racing. Crawford, who specializes in sprints, started the season with an ankle injury, while Renner was a top-15 racer at the Tour de Ski.

Other Canadian athletes in the running include Alex Harvey, George Grey, Phil Widmer and Sean Crooks on the men’s side, and Amanda Ammar, Brittany Webster and Perianne Jones for the women.

The top racers in the world are also expected to chase World Cup points in Whistler, as well as earn quota spots for the 2010 Games. The opportunity to pre-race the Olympic trails is also a draw, and upwards of 300 athletes from more than 24 countries are expected.

 

Nordic Combined

Nordic Combined may seem a bit strange by combining cross-country skiing and ski jumping, but then you have to consider that both sports predate alpine skiing, and the goal from the beginning was to decide the best overall Nordic skier.

The International Olympic Committee has not yet recognized women’s Nordic Combined so only men will be competing at the DKB Nordic Combined FIS World Cup test events in Whistler this weekend. There are essentially two identical events.

On Friday, Jan. 16, athletes will start off with the trial round of the ski jump stage on the HS 140 “Long Hill” from 9 a.m. to 9:45 a.m. before moving on to the competition from 10 a.m. to 10:45 a.m. The athletes get one jump only.

The athletes’ distance in the jump section will determine start position for the cross-country race, which is essentially a pursuit race where racers leave the start at intervals instead of as a group. Athletes can be separated by seconds or minutes, depending on their jump, and the first athlete to the finish line is declared the Nordic combined winner.

Saturday’s event is identical, but with the trial jumps from 10:15 a.m. to 11 a.m., the jump competition from 11:15 a.m. to noon, and the cross-country race from 2 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.

The format is slightly different than the Olympics, which will have three events — a Men’s Individual with a normal hill jump and 15 km race, a Men’s Sprint with a long hill jump and 7.5 km race, and a Men’s Team event with long hill and a 4x5 km race.

Canada has not traditionally done well in Nordic Combined, and currently no men are competing on the World Cup circuit. Canada, as the host nation, is guaranteed at least one spot in each of the three events, and Nordic Combined Canada is sending a team of hopefuls to Whistler to try and earn more spots. The team includes Barrett Martineau, Jason Myslicki, Chanon Pretorius, Matthew Rowley, Wesley Savill and Sean Van Es.

 

Ski Jumping

One of the most watched televised sporting events in Europe — it’s been called winter’s Formula One — ski jumping has been a little slower to catch on in Canada. However, with a good young team and facilities at Canada Olympic Park in Calgary where skiers can progress, Canada is more competitive than we have been in decades.

The Viessmann FIS Ski Jumping World Cup runs from Jan. 23 to 25, with training and qualifiers on Friday and competitions on Saturday and Sunday.

Both events take place on the HS 140 “Large Hill,” with competitors making two jumps on each day. The trial round gets underway at 9:30 a.m. on each day, followed by the first jump at 10:30 a.m. and the second jump at 11:30 a.m.

Only the top-40 from the trial round get into the competition.

A jury of technical delegates determines how high up the start gate should be located, as skiers could be seriously injured if they overshot the steep landing slope. They determine the K-point — or par — for the slope, which is the average jumping distance for the shape of the slope.

Athletes are awarded 20 distance points for landing on the K point, and have points subtracted or added depending on how close they come to that mark. For example, an athlete who goes about 20 metres past the K point on a jump could earn 16 extra points on one jump, or 0.8 points per metre on the long jump.

Athletes are also awarded up to 20 points for technique, with judges making small deductions for mistakes.

The longest jump almost always wins, but if the top two jumps are close and one of the athlete has trouble on the landing then the second longest jump may win.

There are five judges. With the high and low scores not used, the scores from the middle three judges are added up to determine an overall score per jump. The scores from both jumps are added together to give an athlete a final score. A good jump is around 200 points, although it’s not unheard of for athletes to score much higher.

Currently no Canadian men are ranked on the World Cup circuit, but athletes to watch for include Stefan Read, Trevor Morrice, Mackenzie Boyd-Clowes, and Eric Mitchell.

More information on the events can be found at www.crosscountry-vancouver.com, www.nordiccombined-vancouver.com, and www.skijumping-vancouver.com.