The Nordic Opening is a

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 recreation ...

event held annually since the 2010–11 season in

Ruka Ruka may refer to: ;People: *, Japanese actress *, Japanese football player *, Japanese snowboarder *, Japanese professional footballer ;Other: * Ruka (Okage), a fictional character * Rukatunturi (Finnish: Ruka), a ski resort in Finland * Ruka S ...

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

Lillehammer Lillehammer () is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Gudbrandsdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Lillehammer. Some of the more notable villages in the municip ...

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 ...

. The Nordic Opening is a Stage World Cup event in the

FIS Cross-Country World Cup The FIS Cross-Country World Cup is an annual cross-country skiing competition, arranged by the International Ski Federation (FIS) since 1981. The competition was arranged unofficially between 1973 and 1981, although it received provisional recogn ...

, and are held as the first or second World Cup race weekend of the season. The inaugural Nordic Opening was held in 2010 and was originally named Ruka Triple. The editions of the mini-tour hosted in Lillehammer is also known as Lillehammer Triple. Each Nordic Opening consists of three stages; a sprint, an individual race and a pursuit. As of 2019, the prize money for the event amount to 240,000

Swiss francs The Swiss franc is the currency and legal tender of Switzerland and Liechtenstein. It is also legal tender in the Italian exclave of Campione d'Italia which is surrounded by Swiss territory. The Swiss National Bank (SNB) issues banknotes and the f ...

, shared out on both men and women. Men's and women's events are held together on the same days, with the only difference being the distance skied. The first stages was arranged on 26 November 2010 and were won by

Marit Bjørgen Marit Bjørgen (born 21 March 1980) is a former Norwegian cross-country skier. She is ranked first in the all-time Cross-Country World Cup rankings with 114 individual victories. Bjørgen is also the most successful sprinter in Cross-Country W ...

(ladies) and

John Kristian Dahl John Kristian Dahl (born March 27, 1981) is a Norwegian cross-country skier who competed between 2001 and 2019. His best World Cup finish was second, three times between 2003 and 2008, all in the sprint event. On 2 March 2014, he won the annual ...

(men). Marit Bjørgen and

Alexander Legkov Alexander Gennadiyevich Legkov (russian: Алекса́ндр Геннáдьевич Легков; born 7 May 1983) is a retired Russian cross-country skier who competed internationally between 2002 and 2017. He has five individual World Cup v ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

won the first overall Nordic Opening.

Venues

Race structure

Ranking

The overall results are based on the aggregate time for all events, as well as bonus seconds awarded on the sprint stage, which are subtracted from the athlete's overall time. As of 2019, bonus seconds are awarded to the 30 skiers that qualify for the quarter-finals. The final stage of the race is held in a pursuit format, with competitors starting with the gaps they have in the overall classification, so the first skier to reach the finish line is the overall winner.

Prizes

Prizes and bonuses are awarded for daily placings and final placings at the end of the race. In 2019, the winners received CHF 22,500, while each of the stage winners won CHF 5,000.

Stages

Stage 1: Sprint

The first stage in the Nordic Opening is a sprint. A sprint consists of two rounds; a qualification round and a final round with a knock-out competition format. The 30 fastest skiers in the qualification round qualify for the final round quarter-finals. In the quarter-, and semi-finals, the skiers compete in heats of six and the two best skiers in each heat are guaranteed progression, while the two fastest non-guaranteed progression times move on as "lucky losers". 12 skiers advance from the quarter-finals to the semi-finals of which six advance to the final. The winners are rewarded, as of 2019, 30 bonus seconds. The bonus seconds awarded on the sprint stage are meant to encourage sprinter specialists to go for results in the overall standings.

Stage 2: Interval start

The second stage in the Nordic Opening is an interval start, or

time trial In many racing sports, an athlete (or occasionally a team of athletes) will compete in a time trial against the clock to secure the fastest time. The format of a time trial can vary, but usually follow a format where each athlete or team sets off at ...

stage. Skiers are sent out from the start in 30 second intervals. The interval start stage was 5 km for women and 10 km for men from the first event in 2010, but has since 2017 been a race over 10 km for women and 15 km for men.

Stage 3: Pursuit

The third and ultimate stage of the mini-tour is a pursuit with starting intervals equal to the skiers accumulative times in the overall standings; which means that the first skier to cross the finish line is the winner of the Nordic Opening. The stage's length have in every edition been 10 km for women and 15 km for men. If the overall time differences are big before the last stage, the race jury can decide that the lowest ranked skiers start in a wave start.

Overall winners

Men

Women

Records and statistics

Overall winners

Four skiers have won the Nordic Opening two or more times.

(NOR) is the only skier to win five times.

Martin Johnsrud Sundby Martin Johnsrud Sundby (born 26 September 1984) is a former Norwegian cross-country skier who competed between 2003 and 2021. He is a two time Olympic champion at the 2018 Winter Olympics in the team sprint and relay and was also a silver and bro ...

(NOR) has won the Nordic Opening four times.

Overall winners without stage wins

The following skiers have won the Nordic Opening without winning any of the three stages:

(2010),

Petter Northug Petter Northug Jr. (born 6 January 1986) is a Norwegian former cross-country skier and double Olympic champion. He won a total of 13 World Championship and two Winter Olympic gold medals with 20 medals overall (two gold, one silver and one bronze ...

(2012),

(2013),

(2016),

Charlotte Kalla Marina Charlotte Kalla (born 22 July 1987 in Tärendö) is a Swedish cross-country skier who has been competing at international level since the 2003–04 season. Kalla is a three-time Olympian, winning her first Olympic gold medal at the 2010 Wi ...

(2017) and Didrik Tønseth (2018).

Stage wins

4 men and 4 women have won two or more stages in the Nordic Opening.

Therese Johaug Therese Johaug (born 25 June 1988) is a Norwegian cross-country skier from the village of Dalsbygda in Os municipality who has competed for the clubs Tynset IF and IL Nansen. In World Ski Championships she has won ten individual gold medals ...

has won the most stages with 10, followed by

's 9 stage wins. Bjørgen (2012) is the only skier to win all three stages in one Nordic Opening.

Johannes Høsflot Klæbo Johannes Høsflot Klæbo (born 22 October 1996) is a Norwegian cross-country skier who represents Byåsen IL. He holds multiple records, most notably for being the youngest male in history to win the FIS Cross-Country World Cup, the Tour de Ski, ...

and

have won three stages each, most among the men. Skiers who are still active are indicated in bold. Skiers with the same number of stage wins are listed alphabetically.

World Cup points

The overall winner are awarded 200 points. The winners of each of the three stages are awarded 50 points. The maximum number of points an athlete can earn is therefore 350 points.

References

Sources

* * {{FIS Cross-Country World Cup seasons FIS Cross-Country World Cup Cross-country skiing competitions in Finland Cross-country skiing competitions in Norway Sport in Lillehammer November sporting events 2010 establishments in Europe Recurring sporting events established in 2010 International sports competitions hosted by Finland International sports competitions hosted by Norway