Nordic combination, ski jumping and cross-country skiing, have been on the Olympic program since the start of the 1924 Winter Games.
But now maybe the winter branch's time is out.
- What I have heard loud and clear in the corridors is that the solution to the gender issue is to remove the branch completely from the 2026 program, says the American Billy Demong, who has participated in five Olympics in a Nordic combination and who now works in the US Ski Association.
- Removing one of the sports from the first games would be tragic, short-term and misdirected.
On June 24, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) will decide on the competition schedule for the 2026 Winter Games.
- A sport like ski alpinism has been added and I hear that the IOC does not want to increase the number of active and the solution is then to remove the Nordic combination, says Demong.
The competition director for the Nordic combination in the International Ski Federation, Lasse Ottesen, says that he has not heard anything official from the IOC about removing the branch from the Olympic program.
- We hear speculation from various quarters.
If the IOC, for some reason, does not include women in the Nordic combination until 2026, what will happen to the men's competition then?
If there is a signal that 'you can be with 2026 but in 2030 it should be equal between the sexes' and then the branch is removed, says Ottesen.
Last winter, the World Cup premiere season for women in a Nordic combination was held and 40 women participated.