Nordic combination: Women are not allowed to compete in the Olympics

On Wednesday, two days before the opening ceremony of the Winter Games, the German Ski Association convened a media panel. Invitees came in the literal sense, i.e. people who will not show up at the opening ceremony. Who are now sitting on the sofa and asking themselves: why? Who do a course in the second week of the Olympics so that they don’t think too much about this missed opportunity. And who, as in the case of Nathalie Armbruster, travel to the television studio in Munich to accompany competitions as a co-commentator in which she herself would have loved to take part.

This refers to the women’s national Nordic combined team, including officials. The reason: You are active in the only winter sport in which only men are allowed to compete at the Olympics. Does this still exist in the 21st century? There is. That’s why those invited are so invited. National coach Florian Aichinger says: “The last few weeks have been surreal for the athletes. Great emotions keep coming up here.”

The frustration is understandable, because the Nordic Combined, this combination competition of ski jumping and cross-country skiing, has been there since the beginning, since Chamonix in 1924. For men. Then as now, women were condemned to watch.

Your bad luck: your discipline is too young to have developed sustainably. In 2020, the women ran their first World Cup, in 2021 they crowned their first world champions, and a year later the International Olympic Committee ended all their hopes for the Olympic premiere in 2026. The main argument: too few athletes and nations, too few TV ratings and marketing opportunities.

Development in this discipline is progressing rapidly, at least for the short period in which it exists. This season they are running in more World Cups than ever before, and more and more nations and starters are competing on the ski jumps and cross-country ski trails. The competitions – see the Seefeld Triple last weekend – are exciting. And DSV sports director Horst Hüttel says that two thirds of all girls who ski jump also do cross-country skiing.

For the 2030 Winter Games, it’s all about participation, equality, TV presence and funding for the Nordic combined athletes. But their discipline is threatened with double bad news for the competitions in the French Alps: that not only are women still not allowed to take part, but men will also be removed from the Olympic program. And have to give way to new formats. Those responsible, including IOC President Kirsty Coventry, want to get an idea of ​​the men’s competitions in Tesero at the Winter Games – and raise or lower their thumbs in one of their back rooms in May.

If you think this scenario through, even ski jumping would be in danger

One thing is already clear: If the Nordic Combined really falls out of the program, it would be its sporting death. In the words of Olympic champion Vinzenz Geiger: “Sooner or later this would mean the end of the sport.”

There would be a massive loss of support for top-class sports, as would coaching positions, authority positions for athletes and young talent due to a lack of motivation. And if you, like Hüttel, think further? In this scenario, ski jumping is also in great danger. Because the DSV also uses the funding to invest in its operating facilities, i.e. the ski jumps. Without the Olympic status of the Nordic Combined there would be a major financial hole. Hüttel says: “It would be a complete fiasco for us, not to mention the personal tragedies.”

At the end of her career, ski jumper Katharina Schmid will also carry the German flag into the San Siro Stadium as a champion for her sport. For Nathalie Armbruster it could be 2030 as the front woman for the fight of the Nordic combined women. She says: “If there is no gender equality in the 21st century, it would at least be fair that we are there. Simply because we deserve it.”

Nathalie Armbruster as flag bearer 2030: A dream almost too good to come true.