Nordic combined faces possible extinction after IOC drops it from the 2030 Winter Olympics

IOC removes the discipline from the 2030 programme

The International Olympic Committee has decided to remove Nordic combined from the Olympic programme from the 2030 Winter Games in the French Alps. Die Welt reports that the decision, taken in summer 2026, is the first removal of the discipline since the first Winter Olympics in 1924. Nordic combined was still on the programme at the Winter Games in Italy in February. The IOC justified the move by pointing to the discipline's low popularity at the 2014, 2018, 2022 and 2026 Winter Games and to the narrow base of medal winners, with only five nations sharing the medals at the last four Winter Games. Die Welt also notes that the Italian races were close, with seven athletes from five nations still in contention on the final lap of the individual normal hill before Jens Luras Oftebro of Norway won.

Frenzel warns the sport could end

Eric Frenzel, Germany's national coach for Nordic combined and a triple Olympic champion, told Die Zeit that the sport faces an immediate threat. The 37-year-old said the first talks with sponsors had been negative and that he saw the outlook in dark terms. He said the decision initially left him without solid ground, and that he also hears from colleagues in other nations who do not know how things will go on.

In two years at the latest, the combined will no longer exist.

Vinzenz Geiger, Olympic champion at Pyeongchang 2018 in the team event and at Beijing 2022 on the individual normal hill, described the mood among athletes in similar terms. He called the decision a "Riesenschock" and said he felt as if he were "in a nightmare or in a bad film" when he heard it.

There is a negative mood among us athletes. A sense of hopelessness is spreading.

Funding and young athletes at risk

Frenzel argued that Olympic success had allowed the sport to secure the restoration of dilapidated ski jumps and to keep some cross-country stadiums, and that this will hardly be possible now. He expects the decision to affect recruitment as well.

Every child will now consider whether they still want to become a combined skier at all.

Frenzel also criticised the reasoning the IOC gave for the decision, saying the committee had seized on an argument that others had found. He said the sport had been placed in a category it could not escape.

In my opinion, the IOC simply took an argument that people there had found somewhere. We were stuck in a drawer that we could no longer get out of.

Next steps

The Nordic combined World Cup season starts on 27 November 2026 in Ruka, Finland, according to Die Welt. Geiger and Frenzel both describe the sport as having no time to lose, while the removal from the programme takes effect with the 2030 Winter Games in the French Alps.