There will also be no women’s competitions in Nordic combined at the 2026 Olympic Games. This puts the future of the entire discipline at the Olympics in question.
The executive of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) decided on Friday (June 24th, 2022) not to allow the combination of ski jumping and cross-country skiing for women to the 2026 Winter Games in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo, despite efforts to achieve gender equality. In order to be included in the 2030 program, they want a “clear development“See,” said IOC member Karl Stoss, playing on the low level of spectator interest and the lack of diversity among the athletes. At the moment there are only female athletes from ten nations. “Nobody does this sport outside of Europe“said IOC official Karl Stoss.
Combiner Nowak: “We will keep fighting”
she was”definitely sad and disappointed“said combiner Jenny Nowak. “I think I can speak for everyone: we will take that as motivation and show the IOC that we are definitely ready for the Olympic Games. We will keep fighting“Novak added.
Combined will thus be the only sport in Milan and Cortina in which only men compete. The women have been contesting World Cup competitions since 2020, and World Cup medals were awarded for the first time in 2021. In 2023 there should also be a mixed team competition at the World Cup.
IOC worried about “Nordic Combined” – threat of complete Olympic closure
The IOC showed up”very worried” about the overall situation in Nordic combined. The IOC only left the men’s competitions in the program for 2026 because the athletes have been working towards these games for years.
Now that combined athletes have been denied admission to the Olympic program, men are also threatened with a possible Olympic exit, possibly as early as the 2030 Games, since Nordic combined would then not meet the gender equality of sports required by the IOC.
Frenzel with a gloomy prognosis
Three-time Olympic champion Eric Frenzel expressed concern about his sport’s Olympic future. “In my opinion, the signs against sport, against traditional sports, are what I think the Olympic Games are all about“, said Frenzel, giving a grim prognosis. “If there are no women in 2030, then I don’t think men’s Nordic combined will have a place in the IOC in the future either.”
Horst Hüttel, team manager in the German Ski Association (DSV), had expressed his confidence before the conference. The DSV does not assume “that the Nordic Combined is flying out of the programme”.
But there were also other signs before the decision: Five-time Olympic champion Bill Demong told the AP news agency: “I heard loud and clear in the back rooms that Nordic combined is to be taken out of the program.”