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Nordic Opening

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Nordic Opening
Race details
DateNovember
Venue(s)Lillehammer, Norway or
Ruka, Finland
CompetitionFIS Cross-Country World Cup
TypeMini-tour
OrganiserInternational Ski Federation
History
First edition26 November 2010; 13 years ago (2010-11-26)
Editions11 (as of 2020)
Men
First winner Alexander Legkov (RUS)
Most wins Martin Johnsrud Sundby (NOR)
(4 wins)
Most recent Johannes Høsflot Klæbo (NOR)
Ladies
First winner Marit Bjørgen (NOR)
Most wins Marit Bjørgen (NOR)
(5 wins)
Most recent Therese Johaug (NOR)

The Nordic Opening is a cross-country skiing event held annually since the 2010–11 season in Ruka, Finland or Lillehammer, Norway. The Nordic Opening is a Stage World Cup event in the FIS Cross-Country World Cup, 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,[1] 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[2] (ladies) and John Kristian Dahl[3] (men). Marit Bjørgen and Alexander Legkov of Russia won the first overall Nordic Opening.

Venues

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Year Venue
2010 Finland Ruka
2011 Finland Ruka
2012 Finland Ruka
2013 Finland Ruka
2014 Norway Lillehammer
2015 Finland Ruka
2016 Norway Lillehammer
2017 Finland Ruka
2018 Norway Lillehammer
2019 Finland Ruka
2020 Finland Ruka

Race structure

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Ranking

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Bonus seconds for the top 30 positions by type[4]
Type 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13–15 16–20 21–25 26–30
Finish Sprint 30 27 24 23 22 21 16 15 14 13 12 11 5 4 3 2
Interval start none
Pursuit

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.[5]

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

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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,[6] while each of the stage winners won CHF 5,000.[1]

Stages

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Stage 1: Sprint

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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".[7] 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.[4] 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

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

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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.[8]

Overall winners

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Men

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Year Winner Second Third
2010 Russia Alexander Legkov Switzerland Dario Cologna Sweden Daniel Rickardsson
2011 Norway Petter Northug Switzerland Dario Cologna Norway Eldar Rønning
2012 Norway Petter Northug Russia Maxim Vylegzhanin Kazakhstan Alexey Poltoranin
2013 Norway Martin Johnsrud Sundby Russia Maxim Vylegzhanin Russia Alexander Legkov
2014 Norway Martin Johnsrud Sundby Norway Finn Hågen Krogh Norway Sjur Røthe
2015 Norway Martin Johnsrud Sundby Norway Petter Northug Norway Finn Hågen Krogh
2016 Norway Martin Johnsrud Sundby Norway Johannes Høsflot Klæbo Finland Matti Heikkinen
2017 Norway Johannes Høsflot Klæbo Norway Martin Johnsrud Sundby Russia Alexander Bolshunov
2018 Norway Didrik Tønseth Norway Sjur Røthe Norway Emil Iversen
2019 Norway Johannes Høsflot Klæbo Norway Emil Iversen Finland Iivo Niskanen
2020 Norway Johannes Høsflot Klæbo Russia Alexander Bolshunov Norway Emil Iversen

Women

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Year Winner Second Third
2010 Norway Marit Bjørgen Poland Justyna Kowalczyk Sweden Charlotte Kalla
2011 Norway Marit Bjørgen Norway Therese Johaug Norway Vibeke Skofterud
2012 Norway Marit Bjørgen Poland Justyna Kowalczyk Norway Heidi Weng
2013 Norway Marit Bjørgen Sweden Charlotte Kalla Norway Therese Johaug
2014 Norway Marit Bjørgen Norway Therese Johaug Norway Heidi Weng
2015 Norway Therese Johaug Sweden Stina Nilsson Norway Ingvild Flugstad Østberg
2016 Norway Heidi Weng Norway Ingvild Flugstad Østberg Finland Krista Pärmäkoski
2017 Sweden Charlotte Kalla Norway Marit Bjørgen Norway Ragnhild Haga
2018 Norway Therese Johaug Sweden Ebba Andersson Norway Ingvild Flugstad Østberg
2019 Norway Therese Johaug Norway Heidi Weng Norway Astrid Uhrenholdt Jacobsen
2020 Norway Therese Johaug Russia Tatiana Sorina Sweden Ebba Andersson

Records and statistics

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Overall winners

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Four skiers have won the Nordic Opening two or more times. Marit Bjørgen (NOR) is the only skier to win five times. Martin Johnsrud Sundby (NOR) has won the Nordic Opening four times.

Men
Wins Skier Editions
4  Martin Johnsrud Sundby (NOR) 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016
3  Johannes Høsflot Klæbo (NOR) 2017, 2019, 2020
2  Petter Northug (NOR) 2011, 2012
1  Alexander Legkov (RUS) 2010
 Didrik Tønseth (NOR) 2018
Women
Wins Skier Editions
5  Marit Bjørgen (NOR) 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014
4  Therese Johaug (NOR) 2015, 2018, 2019, 2020
1  Heidi Weng (NOR) 2016
 Charlotte Kalla (SWE) 2017

Overall winners without stage wins

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The following skiers have won the Nordic Opening without winning any of the three stages: Alexander Legkov (2010), Petter Northug (2012), Marit Bjørgen (2013), Martin Johnsrud Sundby (2016), Charlotte Kalla (2017) and Didrik Tønseth (2018).

Stage wins

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4 men and 4 women have won two or more stages in the Nordic Opening. Therese Johaug has won the most stages with 10, followed by Marit Bjørgen's 9 stage wins. Bjørgen (2012) is the only skier to win all three stages in one Nordic Opening. Johannes Høsflot Klæbo and Martin Johnsrud Sundby 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.

Men
Rank Name Country Wins
1 Johannes Høsflot Klæbo  Norway 4
2 Martin Johnsrud Sundby  Norway 3
3 Lukáš Bauer  Czech Republic 2
Calle Halfvarsson  Sweden 2
Hans Christer Holund  Norway 2
Women
Rank Name Country Wins
1 Therese Johaug  Norway 12
2 Marit Bjørgen  Norway 9
3 Maiken Caspersen Falla  Norway 2
Justyna Kowalczyk  Poland 2

World Cup points

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The overall winner are awarded 200 points.[9] 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.

Position 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
Overall 200 160 120 100 90 80 72 64 58 52 48 44 40 36 32 30 28 26 24 22 20 18 16 14 12 10 8 6 4 2
Stage 50 46 43 40 37 34 32 30 28 26 24 22 20 18 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

References

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  1. ^ a b Rules for the FIS Cross-Country World Cup 2019, pp. 32–33.
  2. ^ "Ladies 1.2 km Classic Results" (PDF). 26 November 2011. Retrieved 11 December 2018.
  3. ^ "Men 1.4 km Classic Results" (PDF). 26 November 2011. Retrieved 11 December 2018.
  4. ^ a b Rules for the FIS Cross-Country World Cup 2019, pp. 31–32.
  5. ^ "RULES FOR THE FIS CROSS-COUNTRY WORLD CUP" (PDF). International Ski Federation (FIS). Retrieved 29 November 2019.
  6. ^ Rules for the FIS Cross-Country World Cup 2019, pp. 32.
  7. ^ Rules for the FIS Cross-Country World Cup 2019, pp. 13.
  8. ^ Rules for the FIS Cross-Country World Cup 2018, pp. 33.
  9. ^ "Rules for the FIS Cross-country World Cup" (PDF). International Ski Federation (FIS). Retrieved 29 November 2019.

Sources

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