Nordic combination – battle for the supreme discipline: is there a risk of the Olympics being eliminated?

Nathalie Armbruster was delighted that she too was finally able to start the World Cup winter on Friday in Lillehammer, Norway: “It really hurt to sit in front of the TV.” Even though the 18-year-old Nordic combined figure had a lot last weekend Had fun watching from afar: After all, Johannes Rydzek and Vinzenz Geiger celebrated German victories at the World Cup opener in Ruka, Finland.

Sounds like positive news for the traditional sport, which with its mix of ski jumping and cross-country skiing was once considered the supreme discipline of all skiing. In the meantime, however, the Nordic combined event, which has been represented since the first Winter Games in Chamonix in 1924, is fighting for its Olympic future. And the signs are not particularly good. There are only eight World Cup weekends for men this winter, the last time there were fewer 14 years ago. Things look even bleaker for women: the first of only six World Cups is currently taking place in Lillehammer.

After the event in Norway there will be a two-week break. And in January, the core month for winter sports, a World Cup takes place in Schonach in the middle of the month, and then again in February in Seefeld, Austria. Why? A rejection is understandable: In Val di Fiemme, Italy, the ski jumps in the same location are not yet ready a year before the Winter Games. The Japanese Hakuba declined for financial reasons, as did Klingenthal, which was considered a German replacement location.

This provides the International Olympic Committee (IOC) with further ammunition. IOC sports director Kit McConnell criticizes the “lack of attractiveness of the sport” across the board. And so not only were the combined athletes denied initial inclusion in the 2026 Olympic program in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo, but the men’s competitions for the 2030 Winter Games were even threatened with cancellation. The decision should be made in June 2025.

The winter combatants have not been able to collect particularly many plus points so far. The accusation that the same nations, Norway, Germany and Austria, have been vying for the podium places for years was confirmed at the start of the season. The long-standing Norwegian dominator Jarl Magnus Riiber was only at the top in one of three competitions. On the other hand, the German team, which had improved greatly in ski jumping, prevailed with seven out of nine possible podium places in Ruka.

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The entire situation is leading to growing nervousness in the combination – because the previously unthinkable expulsion from the Olympics now also seems possible for the men. This was also reflected in the verbal attacks of the current overall World Cup leader Vinzenz Geiger before the season. The Olympic champion from Oberstdorf criticized the fact that the schedule had become even worse at a time when the Olympic future of the entire sport was at stake. The coming winter is the “last chance to present ourselves.” On Instagram, Geiger even launched a personal attack on Lasse Ottesen, the race director of the International Ski Association FIS: “You were obviously extremely busy – doing nothing.”

Ottesen reacted angrily – especially in these crucial times, public criticism casts a further shadow on the sport. But Geiger received support from his most prominent Austrian competitor Johannes Lamparter in the podcast “Ski happens”: “There are cross-country skiing competitions where there are jumps. Why aren’t we there? There are jumps where there are cross-country ski trails. Why aren’t we there?”

Despite some strong television ratings, the answer is clear, at least in Germany: for many organizers, the Nordic Combined World Cup competitions are simply no longer worthwhile. In other winter sports such as ski jumping or biathlon it is completely different. Combined athletes are bucking this trend with new and more unpredictable competition formats such as the Compact Race. They are also bringing new excitement to the circus with the first women’s World Cup competition with jumping from the large hill next March in Oslo and the first ski flying for the male combined athletes in 2026.

But is that enough? Vinzenz Geiger isn’t the only one who knows that only a secure Olympic future can guarantee the existence of what was once the king’s winter sport: “Otherwise our sport will go downhill very quickly.” The downward slide seems to have already begun.

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