Nordic Ski Scoring
How are regular ski meets scored? It depends on the meet manager
Traditional Minnesota Nordic ski scoring issues points to each skier, with the winner earning 100 points, second place 99, third 98, and so on. There is no minimum number of skiers required to form a team, however up to five skiers on a team earn points while the sixth and seventh skiers "steal" points away from other skiers. Put another way, the goal of the sixth and seventh skiers is to finish ahead of as many other skiers as they can. If a sixth skier takes the position where 65 points is earned, he may not earn it but no one does either. In the end, in Minnesota, teams want the highest score.
Traditional Wisconsin Nordic ski scoring varies in that only up to three skiers per team score and they add up finish place like in cross country running. For example of a team has finishers in 1st, 4th and 8th place, the team score is 13 points. In the end, in Wisconsin and in cross country running, teams want the lowest score.
Traditional Wisconsin Nordic ski scoring varies in that only up to three skiers per team score and they add up finish place like in cross country running. For example of a team has finishers in 1st, 4th and 8th place, the team score is 13 points. In the end, in Wisconsin and in cross country running, teams want the lowest score.
How are the Section and State Meets scored? It's similar but a little more complex...
Updated; 02/2022 (pursuit & sprint format)
Bruce Adelsman at Skinnyski.com (February 6th, 2022) provides a nice breakdown:
- 5K classic and 5K freestyle races (the latter race a pursuit format start) along with two-person freestyle team sprints
- Each team can race five skiers in the 5K classic and freestyle pursuit races, and just two in the two-person team sprints
- The team sprint consists of two skiers, each skier doing two laps of a 1.2-1.5K course, alternating each lap, in relay format
- Skiers can not participate in both the pursuit races and team sprints
- While all five skiers in the pursuit races will generate points, only the top three from each team will count toward their pursuit team score. Points start at 80 points for first team and decrease by one point for each finisher
- Team sprint scores start at 159 points and decrease by three points for each finishing two person pairing
- Team score is calculated adding together the pursuit team score and the team sprint score. Maximum team score would be 396 points (237 pursuit + 159 team sprint)
- The top two teams advance (5 pursuit skiers + 2 team sprint skiers)
- The top four pursuit individuals not from the advancing teams qualify
- The top two-person sprint team that is not from the advancing teams also qualifies
- A total of 40 skiers (20 boys and 20 girls) from each Section