Winter Olympics could drop Nordic combined from program for 1st time ever

Nordic combined, which uniquely tests skiers on jaw-dropping jumps and heart-pounding trails, has been a part of the Winter Olympics since 1924. Its time might be up.

It is the only Olympic sport without women and the International Olympic Committee is due to make a decision later this month about whether to allow women to compete in Nordic combined at the 2026 Milan-Cortina d'Ampezzo Games.

There is the possibility, however, that Nordic combined is dropped entirely from the Olympics, according to athletes and advocates.

"What I heard loud and clear in back channels is that the solution to take care of the gender equity dirty secret is to take men out of the program for 2026," said Billy Demong, a five-time Olympian in Nordic combined and member of USA Nordic's board of directors. "To take away one of the original sports from the first Winter Olympics would be tragic, short-sighted and misguided."

The IOC said final decisions on the 2026 Olympics program of medal events are scheduled to be decided at a June 24 meeting of its executive board, chaired by president Thomas Bach.

"We're seeing sports such as ski mountaineering added and I'm hearing the IOC does not want to increase the number of athletes and the solution is take men out of Nordic combined," Demong said Tuesday in an interview with The Associated Press.

Men in the Nordic combined have been publicly pushing on social media and elsewhere for women to be included, adding a mixed team format as another Olympic medal event, and are now bracing for their future as athletes on the world's stage.

Jasper Good, who competed for the U.S. earlier this year at the Beijing Olympics, said he was "blindsided" by the possibility.

"Information is trickling to us from athlete