At this time, The Nordic Combined and the Ski Jumping events are the only Winter Olympics competition games limited to men. The men have competed in some form of these events since the first Winter Games in 1924.
The Nordic Combined events are so named because each event combines a round of ski jumping with a cross country race. It would seem that when combining two distinct disciplines it would impossible to determine a winner, but there is a formula applied that makes it fair all around.
What happens is that the ski jumping is done first and when the results are tabulated the cross country starting order is established with the best jumper set off first followed by the descending order of jumpers.
There is a time lapse between racers determined by a formula based the ski jump scoring. This essentially sends one racer in pursuit of the ones gone ahead and is known as a Pursuit or Gundersen start. Traditionally, there is plenty of gamemanship in the cross country racing segment and the winner of the event is the first one to cross the racing finish line.
The Nordic Combined events for the 2010 Vancouver Games are:
Men's Individual Normal Hill/10K race
Men's Individual Large Hill/10K race
Men's Team LH/4 x5K
Men's Individual Normal Hill/10K race has all competitors making a ski jump on the normal hill then each race in a Gundersen start 10K Freestyle or skate skiing race.
Men's Individual Large Hill/10K race follows the same sequence as the Normal Hill only the larger of the ski jumps is used.
Men's Team LH/4 x5K sounds a little complicated but actually it isn't. A nordic combined team is made up of four jumper/racers and each team member takes one jump on the large hill. The jumping score of each team member is added to get a team score and the team with the highest score starts first in the following cross-country ski race and the other teams are sent off in a Purist or Gundersen start sequence.
The cross-country ski is a relay where each team member skis 5 kilometers and tags off on a teammate. The winning team is the team whose last or anchor skier is the first of the last or anchor skiers across the finish line.
