IOC keeps women’s Nordic Combined out of 2026 Olympics

By GRAHAM DUNBAR
AP Sports Writer

GENEVA (AP) — The IOC will not add a women’s Nordic Combined to the 2026 Winter Games. The decision on Friday confirms skiing as the only Olympic sport lacking gender equality. The long-term Olympic future of Nordic Combined was also put in doubt with no commitment to keep the men’s event on the program in 2030. Nordic Combined tests athletes in the contrasting disciplines of ski jumping and cross-country skiing. It was one of the original 16 medal events at the first Winter Games in 1924. The IOC cites concerns that Nordic Combined lacks a global audience and too few countries field women athletes.