Nordic combined remains the only Winter Olympic sport without women's events, despite the International Olympic Committee's push for gender balance in the 2026 Milan Cortina Games. Athletes like Annika Malacinski express frustration over the exclusion, while the entire discipline faces potential removal from the program. A crucial vote in June will decide its fate.
Nordic combined, featuring ski jumping followed by cross-country skiing, has been a men's event in every Winter Olympics since 1924. The International Olympic Committee describes the upcoming Milan Cortina Games as the most gender-balanced in history, with women comprising 47 percent of athletes. Yet, for competitors like 24-year-old Annika Malacinski, the progress feels incomplete. "It really feels like they’re just spitting in our face," she said, reacting to the lack of women's events despite advancements in other sports.
Historically, women's participation in Winter Olympics has expanded slowly. In 1956, the last Games in Cortina, women competed only in figure skating, Alpine skiing, and cross-country skiing. Women's bobsled arrived in 2002, ski jumping in 2014, and for 2026, 15 of 16 sports will include women, with female cross-country skiers racing the men's 50-kilometer distance for the first time.
The push for women's Nordic combined is complicated by the sport's overall viability. A June vote will determine if it remains in the Olympic program, amid concerns over declining participation and medal dominance by Norway, Germany, Finland, and Austria, which have claimed over 75 percent of awards. In the United States, USA Nordic Sport ceased funding the discipline in June 2024, prompting Jill Brabec and other parents to form Nordic Combined USA. They have focused on fundraising to sustain a training partnership with Norway's national team, started in 2022.
Progress is evident on the World Cup circuit. Brabec's daughter, Alexa, 21, secured the U.S.'s first medal in five years this season, followed by two more podiums and a gold on Friday, placing her second globally. Malacinski achieved eight top-15 finishes, including a personal-best sixth on Friday, ranking 12th. She started the sport at 16 in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, and Finland, her parents' homeland. The International Ski Federation added women's World Cup events in 2020, with Tara Geraghty-Moats winning the inaugural race.
Of 837 global Nordic combined athletes as of January 2025, 217 are women, showing growing parity on the women's side. However, the IOC's 2022 decision not to include women for 2026 has hindered sponsorship and visibility. Despite this, women's event viewership rose 25 percent in the 2024-25 season. Malacinski uses her social media—nearly 50,000 TikTok followers and 30,000 on Instagram—to advocate, drawing support from fans and sponsors.
She plans to attend the Olympic events in Predazzo and Tesero, Val di Fiemme, starting February 11, to support her brother Niklas (ranked 29th) and Ben Loomis (41st). The U.S. last medaled in 2010 Vancouver, winning four. "The Olympics just doesn’t see the quality of what the women could bring," Malacinski said. Brabec views inclusion as a "huge win" for the IOC, now led by its first female president, Kirsty Coventry, appointed in 2025. Efforts continue to build awareness, urging fans to watch the men's events without boycotts.
