NordiX at the olympics?
 

Just wondering if there have been any suggestions regarding whether
NordiX might make an appearance as a demo sport at the next winter
olympics or beyond? Given that we now have snowboard cross... I'd have
thought NordiX might stand a chance?

Anyone know anything?

Cheers,
Chris

I think it would be a really cool thing because it would combine to
combine speed, aerobic capacity and technical skills. Kids are
naturally playful on skis and I think this would be an extension of
that. I see them at our club playing on ready-made jumps and skiing up
and down vertical structure they can find. I guess clubs and ski areas
would have to start building some shorter loops with some interesting
skill-testing elements and hold some events to build grassroots
support.

Chris

cpella wrote:
I think it would be a really cool thing because it would combine to
combine speed, aerobic capacity and technical skills. Kids are
naturally playful on skis and I think this would be an extension of
that. I see them at our club playing on ready-made jumps and skiing up
and down vertical structure they can find. I guess clubs and ski areas
would have to start building some shorter loops with some interesting
skill-testing elements and hold some events to build grassroots
support.

It seems a few nordic ski areas in the US are putting in terrain parks
specifically for x-country skiiers (or skiiers on x-country gear
anyway... the purists probably don't see it as true x-country skiing!).

Personally I think the freestyle sprints at the olympics are pretty
exciting anyway, but the crowd-drawing ability of something like
snowboard cross is still much greater, and I think a _much_ larger
audience (and thus more participants) could be drawn to something like
NordiX if it were more widely seen.

The format of 4 competitors in a heat on skinny skis navigating a tricky
series of downhill berms and jumps with either one or two uphill
sections is defintely a winner, I think. It's short, it's fast, it has
mass-start appeal, lots of opportunities for crashes (and as a corollary
to that, requires significant skills development in maneuvering in close
quarters over tricky terrain) and the uphill component, typically
leading to the finish, will be something different for the
alpine/snowboard crowd to watch... athletes struggling, at high speed,
_UP_ a hill to the finish line.

Anyway, I'll stop babbling. It's just something I'd love to see
proliferate further at an international and hopefully olympic level. And
I suspect it would capture a large segment of snow-goers not currently
interested in (or indeed aware of) nordic skiing.

Chris

I hope not. There are enough bull**** events in the olympics. In that I
consider anything with a snowboard or anything "extreme". Throw ice
dancing in there too.

Hmmm, I have just been watching the 500m Nordic sprint at the Olys
(mind you it did follow a 49.5k warm-up).

But yes, you have a point, 1.2 k is tough for youngsters, especially if
they have to repeat it a few times. I would be interested to know what
happened to Andrew Newell after his excellent time trial. Did he just
blow up in the knockout stage, or was the problem coping with the
traffic?

The kids love nordicross and it develops skills too. I would like to
see more of it. So long as there is no subjective marking........


Alex

wrote:
I hope not. There are enough bull**** events in the olympics. In that I
consider anything with a snowboard or anything "extreme". Throw ice
dancing in there too.

Why? Just because they didn't do them when you were young 80 years
ago? 8-) I was young 45 years ago, but athletics is athletics, sport is
sport and things change. Get over it.

While it's true that some older established distance skiers compete
well in the "sprints", most of the leaders in this category excel at
the shorter distances. Were any of the top 3 men's finishers considered
serious distance threats? I think people get confused by the term
sprint. In paddling 500m and 1000m are considered sprints, but they are
minutes in length. The sprints in xc are more like the 800m and 1500m
in track, or the kayak "sprints". You do see 1500m runners moving up to
5k and 10k and even the marathon, so there are some parallels. I think
the xc sprints are working quite well. The fans love them and it gives
some skiers a chance to participate who aren't physiologically or
mentally cut out for going out and hammering for 2 hours in the woods.