Peculiarities of northern multiathlon as a type of social and competitive sports practice

The paper analyzes the history of Northern multiathlon from its emergence to the recent development. The analysis is amined at studying the opportunities for developing multiathlon as a type of social and competitive sports practice and bringing it to the international level. The author has identified the following interrelated factors in effective development of Northern multiathlon, including public administration, state support and prospects for Olympic development; public opinion, natural and social access to multiathlon, competitivess and sponsor appeal, methodical and personnel availability. The paper defines time periods and peculiarities of Northern multiathlon development: 1924-1945 - the initial development of multiathlon; 1946-1970 - development of the basic competitive Northern multiathlon practices; 1971-1990 - development of organizational practices and techniques for sports training and competitions; 1991 - present time - development of programs and regulations for multiathlon. Presently, the development of Northern multiathlon is associated with the following topical issues and challenges: designing modern multiathlon equipment; accumulating and summarizing multiathlon practices elaborated and implemented in other Russian regions; developing scientific and methodological justification for effective training and competitive loads; overcoming legal contradictions in delineation of responsibilities.