TheGundersen method is a method in theNordic combined developed byGunder Gundersen, a Nordic combined athlete fromNorway, that was first used in the 1980s. In it, theski jumping portion comes first, and points in the ski jump determine when individuals start thecross-country skiing portion, which is apursuit race, so that whoever crosses the finish line first wins the competition. The system is now also used in themodern pentathlon 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 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. A similar system is used in professional golf'sTour Championship since2019.
Initially put in at theFIS Nordic World Ski Championships 1985 and at the1988 Winter Olympics, the event point-time differential has been adjusted many times at theWinter Olympics through2010. 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.
| Winter Olympic Games | Individual | Team |
|---|---|---|
| 1988 | 6.7[1] | 5[2] |
| 1992 | 6.7[1] | 5[2] |
| 1994 | 6.5[1] | 5[2] |
| 1998 | 6[1] | 3[2] |
| 2002 | 5[1] | 1.5[2] |
| 2006 | 4[1] | 1[2] |
| 2010 | 4[3] | 1.33[3] |