The Gundersen method is a method in the

Nordic combined Nordic combined is a winter sport in which athletes compete in cross-country skiing and ski jumping. The Nordic combined at the Winter Olympics has been held since the first ever Winter Olympics in 1924, while the FIS Nordic Combined World Cup ...

developed by Gunder Gundersen, a Nordic combined athlete from

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

, that was first used in the 1980s. In it, the ski jumping portion comes first, and points in the ski jump determine when individuals start the

cross-country skiing Cross-country skiing is a form of skiing where skiers rely on their own locomotion to move across snow-covered terrain, rather than using ski lifts or other forms of assistance. Cross-country skiing is widely practiced as a sport and recreatio ...

portion, which is a pursuit race, so that whoever crosses the finish line first wins the competition. The system is now also used in the

modern pentathlon The modern pentathlon is an Summer Olympics, Olympic sport consisting of fencing (sport), fencing (one-touch épée), freestyle swimming, show jumping, equestrian show jumping, pistol shooting, and cross country running. The event is inspired by t ...

in which the start times of the final event (a cross-country run) are staggered so that the first to cross the finish line is the winner of the entire event.

World Athletics World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation (from 1912 to 2001) and International Association of Athletics Federations (from 2001 to 2019, both abbreviated as the IAAF) is the international governing body fo ...

announced on 7 December 2018 that the 2020 World Under-20 Athletics Championship will adopt the Gundersen method for the decathlon and heptathlon for the final event. Initially put in at the

FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 1985 The FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 1985 took place January 16–27, 1985 in Seefeld, Austria (near Innsbruck). This was the fourth time the Innsbruck area hosted these championships, having done so in 1933, the 1964 Winter Olympics, and the 197 ...

and at the

1988 Winter Olympics ) , nations = 57 , athletes = 1,423 (1,122 men, 301 women) , events = 46 in 6 sports (10 disciplines) , opening = February 13, 1988 , closing = February 28, 1988 , opened_by = Governor General Jeanne Sauvé , cauldron ...

, the event point-time differential has been adjusted at every

Winter Olympics The Winter Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'hiver) is a major international multi-sport event held once every four years for sports practiced on snow and ice. The first Winter Olympic Games, the 1924 Winter Olympics, were h ...

. The table below is one point difference at the ski jump equaling a specific number of seconds between skiers or teams at the start of the cross country portion of the event. The point-time differential has been unchanged since October 2008.

References

NBC Olympics.com explanation on Gundersen method
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170228202023/http://www.nbcolympics.com/nordic-combined/insidethissport/competition/newsid=257557.html#nordic+combined+competition+format , date=2017-02-28 - Accessed 21 December 2009. Nordic combined