Key Highlights
- The 2026 Winter Olympics are touted as “the most gender-balanced in history,” but women’s Nordic combined is excluded.
- Athletes staged a protest at the last World Cup before Milan Cortina, holding their poles up in an X to represent “no exceptions” for exclusion.
- The IOC stated that significant positive developments are needed, particularly with regard to participation and audience, for future inclusion of Nordic combined.
- Financial challenges and lack of national funding hinder the growth of women’s Nordic combined outside of Germany and Italy.
The Exclusion of Women’s Nordic Combined from 2026 Olympics: A Double Standard?
When the International Olympic Committee (IOC) declared the 2026 Winter Olympics “the most gender-balanced in history,” it was a headline that caught many off guard. Yet, this claim is overshadowed by one glaring omission: women’s Nordic combined.
Nordic combined, a sport combining cross-country skiing and ski jumping, has been part of the Winter Olympics since its inception in 1924. However, women have never participated in it at the Games, leaving athletes like Nathalie Armbruster, Daniela Dejori, and Annika Malacinski to wonder about their future.
Dejori was one of the first to learn of this decision during a YouTube stream in 2022. “I remember I was sitting at my friend’s house … I had my phone, and I threw it on the floor,” she recalled. The shock was palpable among athletes who had dedicated their lives to the sport.
Protest and Advocacy
Athletes staged a protest at the last World Cup before Milan Cortina, holding their poles up in an X at the starting line. This gesture symbolized “no exceptions” for women’s exclusion from the Games. Malacinski broke down in the airplane bathroom after hearing the news.
Malacinski said, “Everything that I had sacrificed — after school, I could have gone to college and I could’ve gone to pursue an education or pursue my dreams of traveling the world, but I put everything on hold to pour everything that I had into this sport.” Her words underscore the personal sacrifices made by these athletes.
Financial Challenges
The financial piece is another hurdle. Top-level athletes like Armbruster have sponsors, but still miss out on opportunities without the promise of the Olympics. “I think that we would definitely get more opportunities in sponsorship if we (were) an Olympic discipline,” she noted.
Outside the United States, the situation is even grimmer. In America, the federal government doesn’t fund national federations, and USA Nordic Sport stopped financially supporting Nordic combined for both men and women in 2024. This decision, citing financial challenges, has left athletes like Alexa Brabec, Malacinski’s sister, to rely on private donations and personal savings.
Malacinski tries to budget about $50,000 annually for out-of-pocket costs: “That’s partly donors, individual sponsors that I have, my savings, working as much as I can while I’m home.” The financial strain is a constant reminder of the sport’s precarious position.
The Future and Diversity
According to the IOC, the future inclusion of Nordic combined depends on significant positive developments, particularly with regard to participation and audience. However, advocates argue that this scrutiny is a double standard because European countries dominate many of the snow sports at the Winter Olympics.
Bill Demong, who won gold for the U.S. in 2010 and was the executive director of USA Nordic Sport for seven years after his retirement, called the IOC’s figures “trash numbers.” He pointed to the fact that the past few games were held in countries where Nordic sports do not have a large presence, like South Korea and China, middle-of-the-night broadcast times in the U.S., and more countries on the podium pre-2014.
“To me it’s an epic fail on (the IOC’s) part,” Demong said. “If they wanted to be gender equitable, they would have at least added women’s for this Games.” This sentiment is echoed by many in the sports community who feel that the IOC’s criteria are flawed and biased.
As the Olympic men’s competition kicks off on Wednesday, it’s not just medals that are at stake. It’s the future of one of the Winter Olympics’ original sports.
The women of Nordic combined are left to watch from the sidelines, hoping for a chance to compete in 2030.
Armbruster summed up the situation: “Now I know that this could have been my Olympic Games.” Her words carry a bittersweet tone as she reflects on what might have been. The fight for inclusion and gender equality continues, with the eyes of the world watching closely.
