Information about the Nordic junior competition
Background
The Nordic Junior Competition (hereby referred as NJC) has been organised since 1975 as a cooperation between the Scandinavian National Ski Associations (NSA´s).
The aim with the event is to let young juniors to compete as “a first step” in an international environment, to learn about the Nordic disciplines and to prepare them for a future in the Junior World Championships and as a senior on international level.
The event is a “copy” of a Nordic World Ski Championship, so all Nordic disciplines Ski Jumping, Cross Country Skiing and Nordic Combined are a part of the event. The event shall preferably be organised on one venue and with a schedule that makes the sectors visible for each other.
All NSA´s cannot host the event which means that NOR, SWE, FIN and EST are the NSA´s that have organized it so far. The rest of the NSA´s in Scandinavia have participated during the years and many times the US NSA has participated. Last years the NSA´s in central Europe and eastern Europe has been invited, but the attendance has been low.
Ongoing situation
Since the beginning of the 21st century the number of international junior events has increased a lot. Today almost all NSA´s around the world organise FIS events for juniors and all juniors who competes regularly has an active FIS code and receives FIS points.
I addition the European national Olympic Committees organise European Youth Olympic Festival (EYOF) and the International Olympic committee is organizing the Youth Olympic Games (YOG).
Finally, FIS has developed the importance of the Nordic Junior World Ski Championships, which today is more prestigious and tv broadcasted.
During this period the importance of NJC has decreased and it´s more complicated to find organisers for the event. E.g. SWE NSA has had challenges to organise the event on the same venue and to find a date when the whole “Nordic Family” can attend to the event is very difficult since so few weekends are “free” from events during a season.
The economic situation is also something that has been discussed a lot since the NJC is not profitable standing on its own, it is a loss for the organizer which mean that the NSAs need to put in money to the event to continue it.
Last years work with the event
Every year the Scandinavian Conference, a group where all countries in the Scandinavian region with Ireland and Great Britain, meets and discuss the NJC and the Scandianavian Cup in cross country skiing.
The challenges with NJC have been discussed for a several years without reaching any solutions, both financially and interest for the event. At this year´s meeting in Falun 20th – 21st May the group came up with three options to decide about for the future of the event:
1. To continue to organize the NJC “as it is”. This means that all NSA´s must contribute economically to the event.
2. Instead of organizing the NJC on snow in the future, “transform” it to a summer camp where the NSA´s and athletes meet for training, training competition and sharing of knowledge. This means that somebody must plan and coordinate the event.
3. Cancel the event. Something to discuss in this case is if the sectors shall organize their own “NJC” (but with another name).
Decision about the future of NJC
At an extra online meeting on the 2nd of June 2026, after NSA’s had another “round” of internal meetings, with different opinions raised, the conference decided to discontinue the NJC.
At next year's meeting, the conference will discuss whether it is possible to find a replacement for the competition. We will return to what the outcome of this will be in the spring of 2027.
Finally, the conference would like to highlight Per Nymoen from the Norwegian Ski Association who coordinated the competition for many years before he retired. Per´s dedicated work with the event has raised the interest among many young skiers in Scandinavia and given them their first international racing experience.
The conference is determined to manage this spirit in a new way, and this work starts next year.