2000 Rognan NOR

The special jump competitions were cleverly scheduled on Thursday and Friday, March 16-17 to keep everybody occupied on both days. Thursday morning, ninety four athletes from seven nations competed in seven age groups on the 67 meter hill, then in the afternoon the Grand Masters (jumpers over 60 years old) had their own special competition on the K-25. Medals were presented after each event.

Friday morning, seventy four Old Boys competed through occasionally heavy snow flurries on the 43 meter hill. Later, at 6:30 pm, special jumping was wrapped up under the lights on a beautiful K-90.

A Saturday morning team competition involved teams from Finland, Norway and Sweden plus two mixed teams: Estonia/Russia and Germany/USA. Each team consisted of five skiers chosen from age classes I to V, with older skiers permitted to substitute in younger classes. The Norwegians continued their dominance in the team event, followed (in order) by Finland, Sweden, Germany/USA and Estonia/Russia.

Cross country racing was saved for Saturday afternoon. The Grand Masters (60+) used points earned on the 25 meter hill and raced 3 km, skiers in their fifties earned their points on the 43 and raced 5 km, while those under 50 jumped the 67 and raced 10 km.

The weather was good, though not perfect, for the Championships. Temperatures hovered around the freezing mark all week and wind was never noticable. However, persistent snow showers kept the hill preparers very busy and reduced the pleasure for some of the participants. On the landing hills, all new snow was simply packed with a big yellow roller, while the inruns were cleared and tracks were cut into old snow by machine. For the competitions, the tracks were all very good, fast and straight, though the landings were unavoidably a bit soft. The sun visited only on Thursday and Saturday.

The cross country course was a five kilometer loop offering some challenging hills. Early in the week, it was rough and new snow made it a bit slow, but for race day, the crew smoothed the surface and cut nice tracks on all the downhills. The temperature climbed to a few degrees above freezing which actually made the course a little faster.

Evening social and cultural events began Wednesday with the charming opening ceremonies. Teams marched to the town square, led by a brass band. Eight costumed adults danced to the music of two accordions, and of course there were the usual speeches, some delivered in four languages. Local children swarmed over the visiting jumpers, demanding souvenirs.

The Thursday evening "Cultural Event" turned out to be a local chorus, with live band and big loud-speakers, presenting two dozen American popular songs of the twentieth century.
Visitors were housed at the Norlandia Hotel and at a residential High School, but on Saturday evening, all gathered at the hotel for the banquet. More speeches and presentations, and some ad-hoc singing.

The 1994 IMC in Hurdal, Norway was spiced up by the participation of Ole Gunnar Fidjestol, fresh off the Norwegian National Ski Team. Through the years, we have enjoyed the participation of a number of ex-world-class skiers. Norwegian Jumping Champion and Olympian Roger Ruud has participated several times, as has Tom Sandberg, winner in 1984 of the first World Cup title in Nordic Combined. In Rognan, Tom was a double medalist, and Magne Johansen could have been as well, but for his falls in the 90 meter competition. Magne Johansen skied with the Norwegian team in the 1989 World Championships in Lahti, Finland.

Complete IMC results are available for all five competitions on the Norwegian Masters web site:

Here are the medalists from IMC 2000 in Rognan, Norway:
(This listing is wide, use your horizontal slider to view all five columns.)

                25 meter (K)                43 meter (K)               67 meter (K)             90 meter (K)               Nordic Combined

Cl.12   1.  Olai Lie            NOR
85-89 

Cl.10   1.  Olav Malin          NOR     Olav Malin          NOR                                                        Olav Malin          NOR  
75-79   2.  Leif Pederson       SWE     Johs Johnsen        NOR                                                        Leif Pedersen       SWE
        3.  Johs Johnsen        NOR

Cl. 9   1.  Nils Eriksen        NOR     Nils Eriksen        NOR                                                        Nils Eriksen        NOR
70-74   2.  Anders Lund         NOR                                                                                    Anders Lund         NOR 

Cl. 8   1.  John Eidem          NOR     John Eidem          NOR                                                        John Eidem          NOR
65-69

Cl. 7   1.  Kurt Elimää         SWE     Aarne Kuisma        FIN     Aarne Kuisma       FIN    Willy Johansen     NOR   Ingvart Thornängen  SWE
60-64   2.  Allan Anderson      NOR     Kurt Elimää         SWE     Ingvart Thornängen SWE    Don West           USA   Kåre Holmen         NOR
        3.  Tuevo Koljonen      FIN     Kurt Brausse        GER     Willy Johansen     NOR                             Aarne Lintulahti    FIN

Cl. 6   1.                              Guttorm Bakke       NOR     Guttorm Bakke      NOR    Antti Kokkonen     FIN   Reidar Finanger     NOR
55-59   2.                              Svein Engmann       NOR     Svein Engmann      NOR    Reidar Finnanger   NOR   Åke Saloniemi       SWE
        3.                              Åke Saloniemi       SWE     Åke Saloniemi      SWE                             Pentti Körkkö       FIN

Cl. 5   1.                              Taisto Tolvanen     FIN     Jan Heiberg        NOR    Jan Heiberg        NOR   Ole Oddvar Kjøglum  NOR
50-54   2.                              Sigmund Stenberg    NOR     Pål Kalleberg      NOR    Pål Kalleberg      NOR   Gjert Andersen      NOR
        3.                              Knut Sørlien        NOR     Dag Tessum         NOR    Klaus Günther      GER   Valeriy Tchuikin    RUS

Cl. 4   1.                              Arsi Sjøgren        FIN     Stein Johannesen   NOR    Bjørn Knutsen      NOR   Hallstein Bogseth   NOR
45-49   2.                              Odd Nordsteien      NOR     Bjørn Knutsen      NOR    Stein Johannesen   NOR   Arsi Sjøgren        FIN
        3.                              Rune Tulluan        NOR     Roy Strenglesrud   NOR    Hallstein Bøgseth  NOR   Jan Skevik          NOR

Cl. 3   1.                              Stig Dahl           NOR     Veijo Strandèn     FIN    Ari Raitoharju     FIN   Tom Sandberg        NOR
40-44   2.                              Pertti Laaksonen    FIN     Vidar Johansen     NOR    Trond Pederson     NOR   Pertti Laaksonen    FIN
        3.                              Geir Almaas         NOR     Arne Jørgensen     NOR    Tom Sandberg       NOR   Leonid Vologjan     RUS

Cl. 2   1.                              Knut Bjerke         NOR     G'r Rune Lislegard NOR    Øyvind Villesvik   NOR   Geir Rune Lislegard NOR
35-39   2.                              Svein Erik Rønning  NOR     Øyvind Villesvik   NOR    G'r Rune Lislegard NOR   Dag Buraas          NOR
        3.                              Stig B. Wuttudal    NOR     Kalevi Kantola     FIN    Stein Moe          NOR   Kari Pesonen        FIN

Cl. 1   1.                              Kair Tammel         EST     Magne Johansen     NOR    Seppo Kinnunen     FIN   Kair Tammel         EST
30-34   2.                              Peep Heinloo        EST     Seppo Kinnunen     FIN    Bjørnar Flovik     NOR   John Erik Nygaard   NOR
        3.                              Pietro Nilssen      SWE     Bjørnar Flovik     NOR    Janne Heinonen     FIN   Rain Parn           EST