What will become of Nordic Combined? This question has been on the minds of athletes and officials since the summer at the latest, when the International Olympic Committee (IOC) decided that women’s competitions would not be included in the program at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan – this is clearly slowing down the development of the sport. The men are now also trembling about participating in the 2030 Games.
The FIS ski association has long been considering how Nordic combined could be made more attractive. There is always criticism that only a few nations make the title decisions among themselves.
In the winter sports podcast of the Sportschau, Horst Hüttel, sporting director of the German Ski Association (DSV) for Nordic combined, reports on the latest developments and ideas to improve the competitive situation.
Germany takes care of Switzerland, the Netherlands and Italy
According to Hüttel, the five top nations (Austria, Norway, Finland, Japan and Germany) agreed a few days ago to cooperate with other nations and pass on their knowledge: “We are ready and are already working with Switzerland.”, says Hüttel. In addition, the DSV is striving for cooperation with the Netherlands – a completely new nation in Nordic combined – and Italy.
Nevertheless, there is also a lack of understanding among the Germans about the demands of the IOC. Compared to other Olympic winter sports, even more nations compete in Nordic combined, says Hüttel. However, the fact that these sports are not discussed is “not fair”.
Hüttel suspects that the TV ratings in Asia and America for the IOC “to tip the scales”be. In Germany, on the other hand, he sees the attractiveness of Nordic combined, measured by TV ratings, as a given.
What will become of women and men?
Equally incomprehensible is the refusal to include women in the 2026 Olympic program. Combiner Svenja Würth reports on one in the podcast “Hit in the face”. According to Hüttel, the development of women would be slowed down, because non-Olympic sports receive less financial support.
In addition, the future of the men at the Olympics is in the stars – after all, the IOC is committed to gender equality. “We must be really concerned”, says Vinzenz Geiger in the podcast. He could hardly imagine that “In 2030 only men will be there again, but not women.”
The traditional sport – the Nordic combined has been there since the first Olympic Games in 1924 – has a lot of future worries and according to Horst Hüttel “a bizarre discussion that hurts enormously”.