Characteristics of the Sport

Nordic sports refer mainly to the disciplines of Cross country skiing, Ski jumping, Nordic combined (a combination of jumping and cross country skiing) and Biathlon (a combination of cross country skiing and shooting).  All disciplines are contested at the Winter Olympic Games with both individual and team based events making up the program.  Up to 1/3 of all winter Olympic medals are awarded to Nordic sports.  Nordic sports as the name suggests originated in the Nordic countries of Europe.  Although these countries are still traditional powerhouses in the sport other countries like the US also feature prominently in medal winners at Olympics and world championships.
Cross country skiing is contested over a range of different events.  Distances range from 1.5km – 50km with men and women competing over a variety of distances and formats.  Skiers also compete in races of differing techniques alternating between the “classical” and “Freestyle” technique.  The classical technique refers to the more traditional technique of straight gliding (or diagonal slide).  The Freestyle technique is a style more akin to skating than the classical technique.  Skiers use the ski in a diagonal position and push out with each ski similar to in-line skating.  The duathlon event is a combination of these two techniques into the one race.
Ski Jumping is a sport where skiers launch themselves down a snow covered hill and off a ramp trying to gain the most distance of flight.  Ski jumping is contested on a normal hill (K90) and a large hill (K120) both as individuals and as teams.
Biathlon combines the discipline of cross country skiing and shooting.  The skiing portion of the biathlon is usually completed using freestyle technique of cross country skiing.  The skiers complete one lap of a set course and ski into a range to shot a series of 5 targets aligned in a row. If the Biathlete misses the target they are penalised. This can be in the form of a time penalty or skiing a penalty loop.  The shot can be taken from a prone (lying down) position or a standing position.  The size of the target changes depending on the position required. Biathlon is considered highly demanding both from a physical and cognitive nature.

Competition 

The main competitive season for Nordic skiers like most other winter sports is during the northern hemisphere winter – principally, between October to March. Both Ski jumping and Nordic combined have a summer grand prix event usually in August. 
At the Olympics men and women do not compete in the same events with female skiers having a much smaller program of events across which to compete.

Nordic Winter Olympic Events

	Cross Country	Ski Jump	Nordic Combined	Biathlon
Female events	Ladies 7.5 + 7.5km Pursuit			Womens 4x6km Relay
	Ladies Individual Sprint			Womens 7.5km Sprint
	Ladies Team Sprint			Womens 10km Pursuit
	Ladies 4x5km Relay			Womens 12.5km Mass Start
	Ladies 10km Individual			Womens 15km Individual
	Ladies 30km Mass Start
Male events	Men's Individual Sprint	Men's Individual NH	Men's Individual NH / 10km	Men's 4 x 7.5km Relay
	Men's Team Sprint	Men's Individual LH	Men's Individual LH / 10km	Men's 10km Sprint
	Men's 50km Mass Start	Men's Team LH	Men's Team LH / 4 x 5km	Men's 12.5km Pursuit
	Men's 4 x 10km Relay			Men's 15km Mass Start
	Men's 15km Individual			Men's 20km Individual

Cross country skiing competition usually consists of a pre race warm up on course and then the race.  Cross country races are won by the skier who has the fastest time. 
Biathlon is won by the skier with the fastest time across the finish line or the one with the fastest time after penalties (for missing targets) have been adjusted for. Obviously in biathlon there is a fine line between being fast as a cross country skier and accurate as a shooter. 
Ski jumping events are usually made up of a one practice jump followed by two competition jumps.  The jumpers are scored on distance and style.  Points are deducted from a maximum of 20 style points based on faults during flight, and landing.  The jumper with the highest accumulated score across both jumps is the winner.
Nordic combined events take the scores from a ski jumping event and converts that into a handicap time with the person with the highest score in the ski jump starting first in the cross country skiing portion of the Nordic combined event.  The skier who crosses the line first is the winner. 

Training

Most elite cross country skiers have extremely well developed aerobic systems with some of the highest VO2max readings ever recorded being in cross country skiers. This is due to the high intensities at which the skiers train as well as the use of the upper and lower body during racing.  The off season for most Nordic skiers is during April with base training resuming in May.  During this phase skiers focus on the development of aerobic capacity and technique.  Cross country skiers use a variety of training techniques to achieve this when there is not enough snow to train on.  They under take sessions in other summer aerobic sports like cycling and running as well as training on roller ski’s to build more specific cross country skiing fitness.  During this early season training the volume is traditionally high but the intensity is usually fairly low.  Cross country skiers have also been known to undertake high altitude training blocks on glacial snow during this phase to improve aerobic capacity and get some on snow training.  As skiers move closer to the competition phase the intensity of training increases dramatically. This coincides with the main training focus moving towards ski specific training. Cross country skiers have had energy expenditures measured at around 30.2MJ/day and 18.3MJ/day for males and females respectively.¹
Ski jumping on the other hand is more of a technical sport where power to weight ratio plays a major role.  Explosive strength is a major focus of ski jumpers training.  This is opposed to gains in muscle size that is detrimental to the ability to fly through the air.  Mostly training for ski jumping is highly specific focusing on explosive power and the technical nature of jumping.  Ski jumpers have relatively low energy requirements due to the short nature of the activity and the fact that a lot of jumps these days have chair lifts attached. This removes the energy expended hiking to the top of the jump.  Coupled with the fact that most ski jumpers are trying to keep weight as low as possible means that a ski jumpers actually intake is relatively normal.
Nordic combined skiers have to combine the endurance capacity of cross country skiing and the explosive power and low body mass of ski jumpers.

Physical Characteristics

As discussed above ski jumpers have very unique body composition goals.  Their goal is to be as light as possible but at the same time have as much strength and power as possible.  Ski jumpers should aim to be light and have low relative body masses; BMI’s below 20 would signify a reasonable relative body mass for a ski jumper.  This is achieved often time though chronic caloric restriction and also the use of low residue diets in the lead up to competition to remove as much unnecessary weight as possible before jumping.
Nordic combined athletes are also a group of Nordic skiers who have unique physical challenges.  Their goal is to be as light as possible to improve jump length but also maintain suitable size and muscular power to ensure good endurance capacity for cross country skiing.  This can be very difficult to achieve and often time Nordic skiers restrict energy intake dramatically to achieve extremely low body fat levels.

Common Nutrition Issues

Meeting energy and carbohydrate requirement for cross country skiing

Cross country skiers some of the highest ever recorded average daily energy expenditures of >20MJ/day.  The ability to consume suitable total energy while also meeting a very high carbohydrate requirement is something that takes a lot of skill and planning.  Due to the whole body recruitment experienced in cross country skiing carbohydrate requirements should be in the range 8-12g/kg body weight per day. Cross country skiers should focus on carbohydrate intake before and during to maintain exogenous carbohydrate delivery and prolong the depletion of muscle glycogen and the onset of fatigue during training. Intakes in the range of 30-60g/hr should be targeted to maintain training performance.  Carbohydrate containing fluids should be used preferentially due to the benefits the fluid will have in reducing the effects of dehydration, especially during summer training. Skiers should focus on recovering carbohydrate stores as soon as practically possible after training sessions and regularly throughout the period between sessions.  Cross country skiers should be highly organised to ensure they are never caught without suitable food sources to meet their very high energy requirements. 
Suitable snacks for before and after training may be
• easy to eat fruit i.e. banana
• sports bars/cereal bars
• sports gels
• fruit buns/bagels/cookies/muffins
• dried fruit and nut mixes
• Toasted and fresh sandwiches
• lollies
• hot chocolate/Milo™
• soup and crusty bread
• liquid meal supplements (eg. PowerBar Protein Plus Powder™, Sustagen™)

Maintaining energy balance in Female Cross Country Skiers

Female cross country skiers need to ensure they pay extra attention to maintaining energy balance during training and competition phases.  The inability to maintain a suitable energy intake to meet energy requirements will lead to female cross country skiers being susceptible to issue relating to the Female athlete triad.  This is a number of interrelating symptoms’ associated to poor energy availability and includes issues relating to menstrual dysfunction and bone health.  Female cross country skiers in particular need to ensure they are regularly meeting their energy requirements with a focus particularly on nutrient dense carbohydrate food sources.

Maintaining low body weight in Ski Jumpers

As opposed to cross country skiers, ski jumpers have a completely different set of challenges that confront them.  Due to the need to maintain very low relative body weights and the fact that training for ski jumping does not require large amounts of energy expenditure, ski jumpers need to be extra cautious with energy consumption.  Energy requirements of ski jumpers are as little as a third of those of other Nordic athletes. Ski jumpers should aim at the lower end of all sports nutrition recommendations.  During training water should be the fluid of choice and post training recovery snacks should be tailored around meals and whole foods rather than sports nutrition products to ensure unnecessary calories are not consumed. Leading into competition low residue/low sodium diets may be of benefit to reduce unnecessary body weight due to extra faecal mass and fluid retention.

Travel to Overseas Countries

Elite Nordic athletes are often required to spend up to six months a year overseas.  Planning ahead, having access to regular food items, having the required knowledge to select appropriate foods and fluids, and having access to specialised sports foods used routinely at home are all important considerations.  For details regarding travel nutrition issues see the fact sheets in the Travel section of our website.

1. Sjodin, AM. A.B Anderson, JM Hogberg and KR Westerterp. 1994 Energy Balance in cross-country skiers: A study using doubly labelled water. Med Sci Sports Ex 26:720-724

This fact sheet is based on AIS / National team athletes and is therefore specific to these athletes. Written by AIS Sports Nutrition, last updated August 2009. © Australian Sports Commission.