Gundersen method

The Gundersen method is a method in the Nordic combined developed by Gunder Gundersen, a nordic combined athlete from Norway, that was first used in the 1980s. This technique turned the cross country skiing part of the Nordic combined from a point-based system where all athletes ski in an interval start manner and whoever earned the most points with the ski jumping part of the nordic combined won the event to a pursuit race for the cross country skiing part where whoever crossed the finished first in the cross county skiing part of the nordic combined event won the competition. In the 15 km individual and 7.5 km sprint events, any point difference between athletes in the ski jumping event equaled 4 seconds difference in starting the cross country part of the competition. In the 4 x 5 km team event prior to 2005, any point difference between athletes in the ski jumping event equaled 1.5 seconds difference in starting the cross country part of the competition. Since 2005, the difference in the 4 x 5 km team event is now one point equals one second.

References

• NBC Olympics.com explanation on Gundersen method - Accessed January 9, 2007.