Confidence evaporates
Athlete Svenja Würth was correspondingly confident before the decision was made. “It will be an incredibly important decision for us,” said the Nordic athlete. “Combination is the supreme discipline of Nordic skiing. I hope that on Friday we will start the weekend with a smile on our faces.”
This is not the case now. In addition to Würth, numerous male colleagues had also expressed their desire to include the women’s competition in the Olympic program in 2026 – including Olympic champions Johannes Rydzek and Eric Frenzel.
The concern of the Olympic champions
They are also concerned that the entire sport will now be removed from the Games. “My wish would be that the women would be Olympic – and we would remain so,” said sports soldier Frenzel in a Bundeswehr interview. “I’m surprised that there’s talk of canceling our sport.”
Nobody really knows how realistic the horror scenario actually is. The fact is that the IOC – as mentioned at the beginning – requires gender balance in all sports.
Nordic Combined is currently the only discipline at the Winter Games in which no women compete. If it stays that way, the balance could also be restored by eliminating the men’s competitions. The decision on Friday could therefore have a far greater impact than can currently be estimated.