Nordic Combined has a rich history at the Olympics and a potentially gloomy future.
From the first winter matches in 1924, a unique sport checked the courage and endurance of athletes in ski jumping and cross -country skiing.
In a year it can be a former Olympic sport.
“This is a big problem or a big problem we are talking about,” said four-time Olympic champion Joergen Grabak from Norway in an interview with The Associated Press.
Nordic Combined is to end the competition at the Milan-Cortin Olympic Games on February 19, 2026 and this can be its final on the world stage.
The International Olympic Committee called in June when he decides which events will be part of his program at the French winter Games in 2030.
Sport may not at least partly make the final conversations about gender inequalities in the era in which women have made progress in sport around the world.
Nordic Combined is the only winter Olympic sport that excludes sex, giving men the opportunity to go gold, while women are groundbreaking to watch. The International Ski Federation and Snowboard (FIS) plans to apply for Nordic women in combination with Olympic sport, but only in the summer of 2026.
The IOC proudly states that winter matches 2026 will be the most balanced sex, which involves the fact that 47 percent of athletes will be a woman.
FIS aims to increase the total visibility of Nordic
While the management body may decide to provide women with Olympic Gold in Nordic Combined, it can also eliminate sport from the program in five years.
FIS, national management bodies, athletes, trainers and supporters do what they can to save sport at the Olympic level. Have increased the number of participating skiers along with attempts to increase its visibility with the help of doctors Overlookedand greater presence in social media.
The French Ski Federation can also provide a sports line of life.
Although the management body in France will not contain shots, it works with FIS to publicly and privately press women in Nordic to have its first opportunity to compete for Olympic gold in 2030.
“Women's Nordic Combined is not developing gradually all over the world and it is logical that women should also be able to join the Olympic program,” said AP Technical Director of the French Federation SKICING Federation Pierre Mignerey. “But we are not decision -makers.”
Jarl Magnus Riiber, a five -time general World Cup champion, who currently occupied the first place, hopes that the IOC is wondering how the excision of sport would also affect two other disciplines.
“Collecting Nordic connected will destroy skis, also jump a bit,” said the 27-year-old Norwegian, who plans to retire after the season due to digestive condition. “This is very important for the stability of our system.
“It is a very easy choice for them to quickly fix, but I think that for the future it is best to keep it in winter games.”
Three years ago, Nordic barely survived as an Olympic sport.
The IOC board regretted that he did not have a strong international national team outside Europe. During the previous three winter matches, only four countries won 27 available medals, and sport had the smallest audience during these Olympic Games.
46 women with World Cup points
Since then, FIS has been providing IOC reports from progress every six months and encountered every year.
Women who leave the perch as high as a 40-story building and fearless fly on the American football pitch, and then race on cross-country skis, also did their role to keep the Olympic flickering dreams.
There are 46 women with the World Cup points entering the world championships, which start on Thursday in Norway, after 30 women participated in the debut season four years ago.
Skiers from Germany, Japan and Norway are in the top three in the World Cup ranking, and eight countries are represented in the top 12.
The United States, whose Nordic program was combined, saved last autumn after he lost the funds, have two women in the top 15: Alexa Brabec and Annika Malański.
Brabec took fourth place in Austria at the beginning of this month to get the best finish of Americans since Tara Geraghty-Mots won the first World Cup party for women in 2020.
Unfortunately, Geraghty-Moats left this sport to realize Olympic dreams in Biathlon.
However, 20-year-old Brabec hopes that in five years he will get a chance to jump and ski Olympic Gold in France.
“It would be really a shame to stop us,” AP said. “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. “