page_title: Birkebeineren Ski Stadium
section_title: Events
hierarchical_section_title: Birkebeineren Ski Stadium / Events
caption_attribution_description: English: Stamp of Kazakhstan
context_page_description: Birkebeineren Ski Stadium is a cross-country skiing and biathlon venue located in Lillehammer, Norway. Situated 3 kilometers from the town center and at 485 meters above mean sea level, it has two stadium areas, one for cross-country and one for biathlon. The former has a capacity for 31,000 spectators, and the latter for 13,500. The venue was built for the 1994 Winter Olympics, costing 83.6 million Norwegian krone. It was subsequently used by the 1994 Winter Paralympics for Paralympic Nordic skiing and Paralympic biathlon. After the games, ownership was transferred to the municipal Lillehammer Olympiapark. The venue has since been used for one Biathlon World Cup, three FIS Cross-Country World Cup and nine FIS Nordic Combined World Cup tournaments, the latter with the ski jumping competition taking place at the nearby Lysgårdsbakkene Ski Jumping Arena. Birkebeineren hosted the 2016 Winter Youth Olympics.
context_section_description: During the 1994 Winter Olympics, the venue hosted ten cross-country skiing events, six biathlon events and two Nordic combined events. Over 203,000 people applied for the 31,000 seats for the relay. During the 1994 Winter Paralympics, the venue hosted the Paralympic Nordic skiing events and Paralympic biathlon.
  The FIS Cross-Country World Cup has been hosted three times, in 1993, 2000 and 2002, all in February or March. The FIS Nordic Combined World Cup has been hosted seven times at the stadium, in 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2009 and 2010. All tournaments have been held in December, and have seen the ski jumping competition hosted at Lysgårdsbakken, the Olympic ski jumping hill in Lillehammer. Birkebeineren hosted Biathlon World Cup events from 1993 to 1997. The stadium has also since 1992 been used as the goal area for Birkebeinerrennet, an annual ski marathon with thousands of participants. It has also hosted the Norwegian Nordic Ski Championships in 1993. Lillehammer hosted the 2016 Winter Youth Olympics; the cross-country, Nordic combined and biathlon events took place at Birkebeineren.
caption: Kazakh stamp depicting Cross-country skiing at the 1994 Winter Olympics
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