Ski flying
Ski flying is a winter sport discipline derived from ski jumping, in which much greater distances can be achieved. It is a form of competitive Nordic skiing where athletes descend individually at fast speeds along a specially designed takeoff ramp using skis only. Points are awarded for distance and stylistic merit by five judges, events are governed by the International Ski Federation; the rules and scoring in ski flying are the same as they are in ski jumping, events under the discipline are contested as part of the FIS Ski Jumping World Cup season, but the hills are constructed to different specifications in order to enable jumps of up to 66% longer in distance. There is a stronger emphasis on aerodynamics and harnessing the wind, as well as an increased element of danger due to athletes flying much higher and faster than in ski jumping. From its beginnings in the 1930s, ski flying has developed its own distinct history and since given rise to all of the sport's world records; the first hill designed for ski flying was built in Yugoslavia in 1934, after which both Germany and Austria built their own hills in 1950.
This was followed by Norway in 1966, the United States in 1970, Czechoslovakia in 1980. From the 1960s to 1980s, a friendly rivalry between the European venues saw world records being set together with hill upgrades and evolutions in technique to fly longer distances. Ski flying remains at its most popular in Norway and Slovenia, where the most recent world records over the past three decades have been set in front of audiences numbering 30,000–60,000; the origins of ski flying can be traced directly to 15 March 1936 in Planica, when 18-year-old Austrian Josef "Sepp" Bradl became the first man in history to land a ski jump of over 100 metres. His world record jump of 101.5 m was set at Bloudkova velikanka, a new hill designed and completed in 1934 by engineers Stanko Bloudek and Ivan Rožman, together with Joso Gorec. With jumps now in the triple digits, Bloudek enthused: "That was no longer ski jumping; that was ski flying!" It was with these words. Such was the awe and disbelief at these massive jumps, the units of measurement were trivialised by the media, who suggested that the metre used in Yugoslavia was shorter than elsewhere in Europe.
Bradl spoke fondly of the jump which made him an icon in the sport: The air pushed violently against my chest. I had only one wish: to fly as far as possible!... many thousands of curious eyes looked up at the judges' tower. I could hardly believe it when an additional'1' popped up on the scoreboard! In the early 1930s, prior to the construction of Bloudkova velikanka, the FIS had deemed ski jumping hills with a K-point of 70 m to be the absolute largest permissible. Athletes who chose to compete on hills with a K-point of more than 80 m were outright denied a licence to jump, events allowing for distances beyond 90 m were discouraged – denounced – on the grounds that they were unnecessarily dangerous and brought the sport into disrepute. Bloudek and his team nonetheless went ahead and flouted the rules in creating a so-called "mammoth hill" designed for unimaginable distances. Bloudkova velikanka had a K-point of 90 m, by far the largest of any hill at the time, but was upgraded in less than two years to 106 m in eager anticipation of the 100+ m jumps to come.
In 1938 two years to the day of his milestone jump, Josef Bradl improved his world record by a wide margin to 107 m. After a period of wrangling and increasing public interest in the novelty of this new'extreme' form of ski jumping, the FIS relented. In 1938, a decision was made at the fifteenth International Ski Congress in Helsinki, Finland, to allow for "experimental" hill design, thereby recognising ski flying as a sanctioned discipline. Despite this reluctant recognition, the FIS still frowned upon the practice of aiming predominantly for long distances over style, to this day refuse to publish lists of world records in an official capacity. Furthermore, the rules for ski flying would not be established until after World War II. In 1941, with the K-point increased further to 120 m, the world record was broken five times in Planica: it went from 108 m to 118 m in a single day, shared between four athletes. After World War II had passed, Fritz Tschannen matched the K-point with a jump of 120 m in 1948.
This marked the last time Planica would hold the world record for two decades, as emerging new hills would soon provide stern competition. A challenger to Planica arrived in 1949 with the construction of Heini-Klopfer-Skiflugschanze in Oberstdorf, West Germany. Designed by former ski jumper turned architect Heini Klopfer, as well as then-active ski jumpers Toni Brutscher and Sepp Weiler, the hill had a K-point of 120 m to match that of Bloudkova velikanka; the FIS, still wary of the rising popularity of ski flying and wanting to keep it in check, refused to sanction the construction of the hill, having denounced the 1947 and 1948 events in Planica. The stance of the FIS eased once again, as the inaugural event in Oberstdorf was given approval to be staged in 1950. During this week-long event, an e
Ski jumping
Ski jumping is a winter sport in which competitors aim to achieve the longest jump after descending from a specially designed ramp on their skis. Along with jump length, competitor's style and other factors affect the final score. Ski jumping was first contested in Norway in the late 19th century, spread through Europe and North America in the early 20th century. Along with cross-country skiing, it constitutes the traditional group of Nordic skiing disciplines; the ski jumping venue referred to as a hill, consists of the jumping ramp, take-off table, a landing hill. Each jump is evaluated according to the distance traveled and the style performed; the distance score is related to the construction point, a line drawn in the landing area and serves as a "target" for the competitors to reach. The score of each judge evaluating the style can reach a maximum of 20 points; the jumping technique has evolved over the years, from jumps with the parallel skis with both arms pointing forwards, to the "V-style", used today.
Ski jumping has been included at the Winter Olympics since 1924 and at the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships since 1925. Women's participation in the sport began in the 1990s, while the first women's event at the Olympics has been held in 2014. All major ski jumping competitions are organised by the International Ski Federation. Stefan Kraft holds the official record for the world's longest ski jump with 253.5 metres, set on the ski flying hill in Vikersund in 2017. Ski jumping can be performed in the summer on an in-run where the tracks are made from porcelain and the grass on the slope is covered with water-soaked plastic; the highest level summer competition is the FIS Ski Jumping Grand Prix, contested since 1994. Like most of the Nordic skiing disciplines, the first ski jumping competitions were held in Norway in the 19th century, although there is evidence of ski jumping in the late 18th century; the recorded origins of the first ski jump trace back to 1808. Sondre Norheim, regarded as the "father" of the modern ski jumping, won the first-ever ski jumping competition with prizes, held in Høydalsmo in 1866.
The first larger ski jumping competition was held on Husebyrennet hill in Oslo, Norway, in 1875. Due to its poor infrastructure and the weather conditions, in 1892 the event was moved to Holmenkollen, today still one of the main ski jumping events in the season. In the late 19th century, Sondre Norheim and Nordic skier Karl Hovelsen immigrated to the United States and started developing the sport in that country. In 1924, ski jumping was featured at the 1924 Winter Olympics in France; the sport has been featured at every Olympics since. Ski jumping was brought to Canada by Norwegian immigrant Nels Nelsen. Starting with his example in 1915 until the late 1960s, annual ski jumping competitions were held on Mount Revelstoke — the ski hill Nelsen designed — the longest period of any Canadian ski jumping venue. Revelstoke's was the biggest natural ski jump hill in Canada and internationally recognized as one of the best in North America; the length and natural grade of its 600 m hill made possible jumps of over 60 m —the longest in Canada.
It was the only hill in Canada where world ski jumping records were set, in 1916, 1921, 1925, 1932, 1933. In 1935, the origins of the ski flying began in Planica, where Josef Bradl became the first competitor in history to jump over 100 m. At the same venue, the first official jump over 200 m was achieved in 1994, when Toni Nieminen landed at 203 metres. In 1964 in Zakopane, the large hill event was introduced at the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships. In the same year, the normal hill event was included on the Olympic programme at the 1964 Winter Olympics; the team event was added at the 1988 Winter Olympics. A ski jumping hill is located on a steep slope, it consists of the jumping ramp, take-off table, a landing hill. Competitors glide down from a common point at the top of the in-run, achieving considerable speeds at the take-off table, where they take off with help of speed and their own leap. While airborne, they maintain an aerodynamic position with their bodies and skis, that would allow them to maximize the length of the jump.
The landing slope is constructed so that the jumper's trajectory is near-parallel with it, the athlete's relative height to the ground is lost, allowing for a gentle and safe landing. The landing space is followed by an out-run, a substantial flat or counter-inclined area that permits the skier to safely slow down; the out-run area is surrounded by a public auditorium. The slopes are classified according to the distance that the competitors travel in the air, between the end of the table and the landing; each hill has a construction point. The classification of the hills are as follows: Competitors are ranked according to a numerical score obtained by adding up components based on distance, inrun length and wind conditions. In the individual event, the scores from each skier's two competition jumps are combined to determine the winner. Distance score depends on the hill's K-point. For K-90 and K-120 competitions, the K-point is set at 120 metres, respectively. Competitors are awarded 120 points if they land on the K-point.
For every metre beyond the K-point, the competitor is awarded extra points. A competitor's distance is measured between the takeoff and t
Ski touring
Ski touring is skiing in the backcountry on unmarked or unpatrolled areas. Touring is done off-piste and outside of ski resorts, may extend over a period of more than one day, it is similar to backcountry skiing. Ski touring combines elements of Nordic and alpine skiing and embraces such sub-disciplines as Telemark and randonnée. A defining characteristic is that the skier's heels are "free" – i.e. not bound to the skis – in order to allow a natural gliding motion while traversing and ascending terrain which may range from flat to steep. Ski touring has been adopted by skiers seeking new snow, by alpinists, by those wishing to avoid the high costs of traditional alpine skiing at resorts. Touring requires independent navigation skills and may involve route-finding through potential avalanche terrain, it has parallels with wilderness backpacking. Ski mountaineering is a form of ski touring which variously combines the sports of Telemark and backcountry skiing with that of mountaineering. Among the pioneers of ski touring is John "Snowshoe" Thompson the earliest modern ski mountaineer and a prolific traveler who used skis to deliver the mail at least twice a month over the steep eastern scarp of the Sierra Nevada to remote California mining camps and settlements.
His deliveries continued for at least 20 years. Thompson's route of 90 miles took three days in and 48 hours back out with a pack that exceeded 100 pounds of mail. Cecil Slingsby, one of the earliest European practitioners, crossed the 1,550-metre-high Keiser Pass in Norway on skis in 1880. Other pioneers include Adolfo Kind, Arnold Lunn, Ottorino Mezzalama, Patrick Vallençant, Kilian Jornet Burgada. Ski touring involves both downhill travel without needing to remove skis. Various terms have emerged to refer to how close it is to services. Frontcountry refers to terrain, off-trail but within ski area boundaries where ski lifts and emergency services are close at hand. Slackcountry refers to terrain, outside of marked ski area boundaries and accessed from a lift without having to use skins or bootpack; this includes terrain with access back to the lift as well. For purists, slackcountry touring may include touring where people use a car as a shuttle. Sidecountry refers to terrain, outside of ski area boundaries yet still accessible via a ski lift.
Sidecountry requires the skier to hike, skin, or climb within ski area boundaries to reach or return from the sidecountry area, or both. Backcountry refers to terrain in remote areas, outside of ski area boundaries and not accessible via a ski lift. Alpine skiing equipment can be used for ski touring with the addition of a removable binding insert that allows for free heel swing on ascents. Nordic ski touring is skiing with bindings all the time. Thus, Nordic skiers do not have to change back and forth between uphill and downhill modes, which can be advantageous in rolling terrain. At the lighter, simpler end of the scale, Nordic skis may be narrow and edgeless cross-country types for groomed trails or ideal snow conditions, used with boots that resemble soft shoes or low boots. Backcountry Nordic uses a heavier setup than a traditional Nordic setup, but not as big and heavy as a full Telemark setup. Telemark skiing is at the heavier end of the Nordic skiing equipment spectrum, designed for steep backcountry terrain or ski-area use.
Alpine Touring or randonnée equipment is designed for ski touring in steep terrain. Various devices can be used to make ascending easier. "Fish scale" pattern friction aids embossed in the center section of the bottoms of the skis or sticky ski wax in the center pocket are used in lower-angle or rolling terrain. Climbing skins are used when fish scales or ski wax fail to provide sufficient grip for skiing steeply uphill. Ski crampons may be attached when conditions are icy or the grade too steep for skins. Ski touring can take place anywhere that has suitable snow and terrain as well as reasonable means of access to the trailhead, i.e. plowed roads, snowcats, or aircraft. Activities center on the Troll Peninsula in northern Iceland. Touring in Norway has a long tradition. Skiing was a practical means of winter transportation, ski touring formed the basis of the polar expeditions of Norwegian explorers like Fridtjof Nansen and Roald Amundsen. There are thousands of kilometers of marked ski routes in Norway in forested areas and in mountain areas above treeline.
The trails are maintained by organizations like Skiforeningen in the Oslomarka area and the Norwegian Trekking Association nationally, including Hardangervidda and Jotunheimen. The Norwegian Trekking Association maintains mountain trails and cabins in Norway and has more than 200,000 members; the Haute Route and Tyrol are popular areas for ski touring. Ski areas are concentrated around the Rockies and include Jasper National Park, Rogers Pass, Wapta and Golden, in southeast British Columbia at the confluence of the Columbia and Kicking Horse Rivers. Surrounded by the Rocky Mountains to the east and the Purcell Mountains and Selkirk Mountains to the west, Kananaskis Country, the Skeena Mountains, Chic-Choc Mountains, Gros Morne National Park attract ski tourers. Touring takes place anywhere there is sufficient snow in the U. S. for example, in Jackson Hole,Loveland Pass
Modern competitive archery
Modern competitive archery involves shooting arrows at a target for accuracy from a set distance or distances. This is called target archery. A form popular in Europe and America is field archery, shot at targets set at various distances in a wooded setting. There are several other lesser-known and historical forms, as well as archery novelty games; the World Archery Federation, composed of 156 national federations and other archery associations, is the governing body recognized by the International Olympic Committee. Various other large organizations exist with different rules. Modern competitive target archery is governed by the World Archery Federation, abbreviated as WA. Olympic rules are derived from WA rules. Target archery competitions outdoors. Indoor distances are 18 m. Outdoor distances range from 25 m to 90 m. Competition is divided into ends of 3 or 6 arrows. After each end, the competitors retrieve their arrows. Archers have a set time limit in. 3 arrows are shot in 2 minutes, 6 in 4 minutes.
Targets are marked with 10 evenly spaced concentric rings, which have score values from 1 through 10 assigned to them. In addition, there is an inner 10 ring, sometimes called the X ring; this becomes the 10 ring at indoor compound competitions. Outdoors, it serves. Archers score each end by summing the scores for their arrows. Line breakers, an arrow just touching a scoring boundary line, will be awarded the higher score. In the past, most targets in competitive archery use some kind of stalks of grain or grass and may be constructed of marsh grass woven into a rope wrapped around into a target. However, in modern times, most archery targets are made of synthetic foam, or woven plastic bags stuffed with cloth. Different rounds and distances use; these range from 40 cm to 122 cm. Field archery involves shooting at targets of varying distance in rough terrain. Three common types of rounds are the field and animal. A round consists of 28 targets in two units of 14. Field rounds are at'even' distances up to 80 yards, using targets with a black bullseye, a white center ring, black outer ring.
Hunter rounds use'uneven' distances up to 70 yards, although scoring is identical to a field round, the target has an all-black face with a white bullseye. Children and youth positions for these two rounds are closer, no more than 30 and 50 yards, respectively. Animal rounds use life-size 2D animal targets with'uneven' distances reminiscent of the hunter round; the rules and scoring are significantly different. The archer shoot their first arrow. If it hits, they do not have to shoot again. If it misses, they advance to station two and shoots a second arrow to station three for a third if needed. Scoring areas are nonvital with points awarded depending on which arrow scored first. Again and youth shoot from reduced range. One goal of field archery is to improve the technique required for bowhunting in a more realistic outdoor setting, but without introducing the complication and guesswork of unknown distances; as with golf, fatigue can be an issue as the athlete walks the distance between targets across sometimes rough terrain.
IFAA Field and International rounds are used in European Professional Archery competition. The following are listed on the WA website; these competitions are not as popular as the two listed above, but they are competed internationally. 3D archery is a subset of field archery focusing on shooting at life-size models of game and is popular with hunters. It is most common to see unmarked distances in 3D archery, as the goal is to recreate a hunting environment for competition. Though the goal is hunting practice, hunting broadheads are not used, as they would tear up the foam targets too much. Normal target or field tips, of the same weight as the intended broadhead, are used instead. In the past 10 years 3D archery has taken new light with a competitive edge. There is a whole new group of competitions. Competitions are held in many U. S. states with the totals from each state being added together to crown a single winner within each division. Some competitors will travel thousands of miles a year to compete to try and claim the world title in 3D archery.
This competitive style has been growing in many other countries and should continue with strong support for many years to come. The major 3d archery groups are the IBO and the ASA are based in Eastern United States, they each have scoring methods. They host a number of competitive shoots across the Eastern United States. There are several classes in each organization that range from hunter all the way up to professional classes; each class shoots at maximum yardages. Similar to target archery, except that the archer attempts to drop arrows at long range into a group of concentric
History of skiing
Skiing, or traveling over snow on skis, has a history of at least eight millennia. The earliest archaeological examples of skis were found in Russia and date to 6000 BCE. Although modern skiing has evolved from beginnings in Scandinavia, 5000-year-old wall paintings suggest use of skis in the Xinjiang region of what is now China. Purely utilitarian, starting in the mid-1800s skiing became a popular recreational activity and sport, becoming practiced in snow-covered regions worldwide, providing a market for the development of ski resorts and their related communities; the word ski comes from the Old Norse word skíð which means "cleft wood", "stick of wood" or "ski". In Old Norse common phrases describing skiing were fara á renna and skríða á skíðum. Norwegian and Swedish do not form a verb from the noun. Other languages make a verb form out of the noun, such as to ski in English, skier in French, esquiar in Spanish and Portuguese, sciare in Italian, skiën in Dutch, or schilaufen in German. Finnish has its own ancient words for skis and skiing: "ski" is suksi and "skiing" is hiihtää.
The Sami have their own words for "skis" and "skiing": for example, the Lule Sami word for "ski" is sabek and skis are called sabega. The Sami use cuoigat for the verb "to ski"; the oldest information about skiing is based on archaeological evidence. Two regions present the earliest evidence of skis and their use: the Altaic region of modern China where 5000-year-old paintings suggest the aboriginal use of skis, northern Russia, where the oldest fragments of ski-like objects, dating from about 6300–5000 BCE were found about 1,200 km northeast of Moscow at Lake Sindor; the earliest Scandinavian examples of skiing date to 3000 or 4000 BCE with primitive carvings about the same age or younger than the White Sea and Lake Onega carvings. An image of a skier holding a single pole or an ax with both hands, is found in Rødøy in the Nordland region of Norway; the Rødøy carving shows skis of equal length. A rock carving at Alta, from about 1000 or 500 BCE depicts a skier about to shoot with bow and arrow, with skis positioned in an angle to offer good support.
Rock drawings in Norway dated at 4000 BC depict a man on skis holding a stick. At Zalavrouga, near the White Sea in Russia, rock carvings were discovered in 1926 and dated to 2000 or 2500 BCE. One of the Zalavrouga carvings depicts hunting of big game with hunters on equal length skis; the hunters used their bow and spear as poles. The first primitive Scandinavian ski was found in a peat bog in Hoting in Jämtland County in Sweden which dates back to 4500 or 2500 BCE. In 1938 a ski was found from Salla, Finland, dated back to 3245 BCE. Noted examples are the Kalvträskskidan ski, found in Sweden and dated to 3300 BCE, the Vefsn Nordland ski, found in Norway and dated to 3200 BCE. There are some 20 findings of ancient, well-preserved skis in drained bogs in Norway, indicating that skis have been used in Norway Northern Norway, since prehistoric times. Skis have been uncovered in ancient graves. In 2014, a ski complete with leather bindings, emerged from a glacier in Reinheimen mountains, Norway; the binding is at a small elevated area in the middle of the 14,5 cm wide ski.
According to the report the ski is some 1300 years old. A large number of organic artifacts have been well preserved for several thousand years by the stable glaciers of Oppland county and emerge when glaciers recede. A ski excavated in Greenland is dated to 1010. Based on findings in the Nordic countries and elsewhere, researchers have identified at least 3 main types: arctic and central Nordic; the arctic type was short and covered with fur, used from northern Japan in the east to Ob river in the west. The Sami people brought this type to the Nordic region; the southern type had one short and one long ski, was used in forest areas of Southern Scandinavia and the Baltic countries. The central Nordic type had one short with fur and one long, was used in large parts of Norway and Finland. Norse mythology describes the god Ullr and the goddess Skaði hunting on skis and Skaði has been regarded as the god and goddess of skiing and hunting. Early historical evidence includes Procopius' description of Sami people as skrithiphinoi translated as "ski running samis".
Birkely argues that the Sami people have practiced skiing for more than 6000 years, evidenced by the old Sami word čuoigat for skiing. Paulus Diaconus mentioned what may have been Sami and described how they chased animals by a twisted piece of wood that they painstakingly shaped into resembling a bow. Egil Skallagrimsson's 950 CE saga describes King Haakon the Good's practice of sending his tax collectors out on skis; the Gulating law stated that "No moose shall be disturbed by skiers on private land." The saga of king Sverre of Norway reports how Sverre around year 1200 sent troops on ski to patrol the Aker area near Oslo. During Sverre's siege of Tønsberg Fortress, soldiers boldly skied down the steep cliff. According to the saga, Haakon IV of Norway as a baby in 1206 was transported by soldiers on skis through the hills between Gudbrandsdalen and Østerdalen valleys, this event inspired modern day Birkebeinerrennet ski marathon. Ski warfare, the use of ski-equipped troops in war, is first recorded by the Danish historian Saxo Grammaticus in the 13th century.
The speed and distance that ski troops are able to cover is comparable to that of light cavalry. Swedish
Mixed-sex sports
Mixed-sex sports known as mixed-gender or coed sports, are sports where the participants are not of a single sex. This can take the form of team sports involving people of different sexes. In organised sports settings, rules dictate the number of people required of each sex in a team; such rules account for the sex differences in human physiology, with males being larger and stronger than females on average. In informal settings, mixed-sex sports involves groups of friends and/or family engaging in sport without regard to the sex of the participants. Sports which are mixed-sex as standard are ones where the differences between the sexes do not affect the ability of the competitor, for example equestrian sports. Sports in which the sex of a competitor affects their ability to compete have single-sex divisions, with mixed-team variants comprising the mixed-sex element of the sport, for example mixed doubles tennis. Mixed-sex sports have been encouraged as a way of boosting female sports participation and improving social harmony between the sexes.
Mixed-sex play and sports is common among young children, among whom differences are less pronounced. It is uncommon in most organised sports to find individuals of different genders competing head-to-head at elite level, principally due to the differences between the sexes. In sports where these differences are less linked to performance, it is standard practice for men and women to compete in mixed-sex fields; these open-class sports prove accommodating to intersex athletes, who challenge the sex-defined rules of both single-sex sport and mixed-sex sports with defined male and female roles. In equestrian sports and female riders compete against each other in eventing and show jumping disciplines. Female jockeys compete alongside male ones in horse racing, though the former constitute a minority of jockeys overall. Beyond the athletes, the horses used for racing are a mixed of male and female, with a 60/40 split at the top level between colts and fillies. In snooker, the professional tour is open to men and women, although only one woman has competed on the tour for a full year, although others have played in individual tournaments.
There is a separate women only tour to encourage female participation in the sport. During an Ultimate game, teams of 7 players play in direct competition with each other, while most people of the same gender mark each other, it is not uncommon to see match ups between people of different gender. A common form of mixed-sex sports involves pairs with one female team member. Sports based on dancing have male/female pairings, such as pair figure skating, ice dancing, ballroom dancing and synchronised swimming duets. In these sports the male and female participants physically work together to produce an artistic and athletic performance. Mixed doubles involves two mixed-sex pairs competing against each other with all four competitors in open play; this is prominent in racket sports, including tennis, table tennis, badminton and racquetball. Mixed pairs and mixed teams events are organised in contract bridge. Pairs may compete in turn-based games, where men and women take turns alternately; this is found in more strategy-based sports, including mixed doubles curling, mixed golf, mixed bowling and mixed team darts.
Separate male and female performances may be combined to produce mixed team results in such sports as diving. Synchronised diving is found in mixed-sex format. Mixed tag team matches are found in professional wrestling, where wrestlers are not explicitly competing in a turn-based manner, but are obliged to only face their opponent of the same sex. In non-vehicular racing sports the physiological differences between the sexes preclude head-to-head competition between people of different sexes at the elite level; as a result, mixed-sex events are most held with a relay race format. In running, a 4 × 400 metres mixed relay race was introduced at the 2017 IAAF World Relays, will be added to the 2019 World Championships in Athletics and 2020 Summer Olympics. In cross-country running, a 4 × 2 km mixed relay race was added at the 2017 IAAF World Cross Country Championships. In swimming, mixed relay races were introduced at the 2014 FINA World Swimming Championships and the 2015 World Aquatics Championships.
The event will debut at the 2020 Summer Olympics. In triathlon, the ITU Triathlon Mixed Relay World Championships mixed relay race has been held since 2009; the triathlon at the Youth Olympic Games has a mixed relay race since 2010. As in standard triathlons, each triathlon competitor must do a segment of swimming and running. In biathlon, a mixed relay race was first held at the Biathlon World Championships 2005 in Khanty-Mansiysk, it was added to the 2014 Winter Olympics; the mixed division is a staple of Ultimate, it is the only division, showcased at both the 2013 World Games and the 2017 World Games. Mixed-sex forms of ball sports involve set numbers of each sex per team, sometimes pre-defined roles in the team which people of that gender can play. Examples include korfball, coed softball and wheelchair rugby. Mixed-sex sport has a long history at the Olympic Games, dating back to the 1900 Summer Olympics, the first in which women participated. Two women competed against men in the equestrian, the croquet competition was mixed-sex, while Hélène de Pourtalès was the sole female sailor and first mixed-sex team champion, being part of a gold medal-winning
Ski mountaineering
Ski mountaineering is a skiing discipline that involves climbing mountains either on skis or carrying them, depending on the steepness of the ascent, descending on skis. There are two major categories of equipment used, free-heel Telemark skis and skis based on Alpine skis, where the heel is free for ascents, but is fixed during descent; the discipline may be practiced recreationally or as a competitive sport. Competitive ski mountaineering is a timed racing event that follows an established trail through challenging winter alpine terrain while passing through a series of checkpoints. Racers descend under their own power using backcountry skiing equipment and techniques. More ski mountaineering is an activity that variously combines ski touring, backcountry skiing, mountaineering. Military patrol was an official event at the 1924 Winter Olympics, followed by demonstration events at the 1928 Winter Olympics, in 1936 and in 1948. Military patrol is considered to be a predecessor of the biathlon.
From 1992 to 2009, the Comité International du Ski-Alpinisme de Compétition, founded by France, Slovakia and Switzerland, sanctioned the European Championship. The CISAC merged with the International Council for Ski Mountaineering Competitions in 1999, which in 2008 became the International Ski Mountaineering Federation. Outside Europe, international championships started with the 2007 South American Ski Mountaineering Championship and the 2007 Asian Championship of Ski Mountaineering; the 2012 North American Ski Mountaineering Championship was the first edition of a North American Championship of Ski Mountaineering, sanctioned by the United States Ski Mountaineering Association. International competition is sanctioned by the International Ski Mountaineering Federation, while national bodies sanction national competitions, for example the United States Ski Mountaineering Association, Ski Mountaineering Competition Canada, the Schweizer Alpen Club. Three important races are the Italian Mezzalama Trophy the Swiss Patrouille des Glaciers, the French Pierra Menta.
Bindings: Should be reliable and durable. Boots: Should be flexible. Skis: Should weigh 4 pounds or less. Other: Ski skins are used for walking up slopes
