Nordic Combined has a rich history at the Olympic Games and possibly a bleak future.
Since the first winter games in 1924, unique sport has tested the bravery and endurance of athletes in ski jumping and cross -country skiing.
It could be a former Olympic sport in a year.
“This is a big problem or a big problem that we are talking about,” said four -time Olympic champion Joergen Graabak from Norway in an interview with the Associated Press.
Nordic Combined is to complete the competition at the Olympic Games in Milanda on February 19, 2026, and this could be his final on the world stage.
The International Olympic Committee will call in June when he decides which events will be part of his program in the French winter games 2030.
The sport may not at least partially make the cut partly to end discussions about its gender -specific inequalities in a time when women have made progress worldwide.
Nordic Combined is the only Olympic winter sport that excludes a gender and gives men the opportunity to make gold while women have descended to observe. The International Ski and Snowboardveration (FIS) plans to apply for the Nordics of women in order to become an Olympic sport, but only in the summer of 2026.
The IOC is proud to say that the 2026 winter games will be the most gender -specific and welcomes the fact that 47 percent of athletes will be female.
FIS aims to increase the Nordic combined visibility
While the management committee was able to decide to give women in Nordic Combination an opportunity for Olympic gold, it could also decide to remove the sport out of the program in five years.
FIS, national government bodies, athletes, trainers and supporters do what they can do to save sport at the Olympic level. They have increased the number of participating skiers and attempts to increase their visibility with documentation OverlookingAnd a greater presence on social media.
The French skiing can also give sport a lifeline.
Although the governmental authority in France will not call the shots, she is pushing for FIS to push the Nordic publicly and privately in 2030 to have her first opportunity to fight Olympic gold.
“The Nordic women’s combination is gradually developing all over the world and it is only logical that women should also be able to join the Olympic program,” said Pierre Migrey, Technical Director of the French Ski -Panning, compared to the AP . “But we are not the decision -makers.”
Jarl Magnus Riiber, a five-time overall World Cup champion that currently has number 1, hopes that the IOC will take into account how cutting the sport would also affect two more disciplines.
“Nordic Combination will also destroy a little and land-regulatory,” said 27-year-old Norwegian, who wants to retire after the season due to a digestive state. “This is very important for the stability of our system.
“It is a very simple choice for you to create a quick solution, but I think it is best to keep it in the winter games for the future.”
Three years ago, Nordic hardly survived as an Olympic sport.
The board of the IOC complained that it had no strong international representation outside of Europe. During the last three winter games, only four countries won the 27 available medals and the sport had the smallest audience during this Olympic Games.
46 women with World Cup points
Since then, FIS has made the IOC available every six months of progress reports and met annually.
Females who leave as high as a 40-story building and fearlessly fly the length of an American soccer field and then run on ongoing skis, have also contributed to keeping Olympic dreams alive.
There are 46 women with World Cup points that are with World Championships that start in Norway on Thursday after 30 women took part in the debut season four years ago.
Skiers from Germany, Japan and Norway are among the top 12 in the World Cup ranking among the top three and eight countries.
The United States, whose Nordic Combined Program was recovered last autumn after the loss of financing, has two women in the top 15: Alexa Brabec and Annika Malacinski.
Brabec became fourth in Austria in the early this month, since Tara Geragy-Moats won the best goal for women for women in 2020.
Unfortunately, Geraghty-Moats left the sport to realize Olympic dreams in biathlon.
However, 20-year-old Brabec hopes that she will get a shot for jumping and skiing for Olympic gold in France in five years.
“It would be a real shame to keep us away,” she told the AP. “I heard that the French really want us there. It is exciting and encouraging that there are people who believe in women in our sport.”
