The Olympic Dream, Denied: Women and Nordic Combined.

The International Olympic Committee has dubbed the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympics the most gender-equal Winter Olympics in history, with women’s competitors making up 47% of the field. This figure is the result of decades of advocacy by athletes and fans pushing for equal opportunity across genders; however, the IOC still refuses to give the women of Nordic Combined their opportunity.

Nordic Combined is a sport combining ski jumping and cross-country skiing. It is one of the original Olympic sports and has been contested at every Winter Olympic Games—but only for men.

In the last decade, women’s Nordic Combined has grown rapidly, with the addition of the World Cup in 2020, which was won by Vermont native Tara Geraghty-Moats, and the addition of a large hill event in March 2025. Despite this progress, one stage still excludes women: the Olympics.

The International Olympic Committee cites a lack of diversity on the World Cup podium, a lack of viewership, and a lack of development in the sport as reasons the women’s event is not included.

Here are the facts. So far, athletes from five separate nations have stood on the podium in the 2025–2026 World Cup season. This includes American athletes Alexa Brabec and Tara Geraghty-Moats. As for viewership, during the 2024–2025 World Cup season, viewership of women’s Nordic Combined events grew by 25%.

The lack of growth in the sport is directly tied to its absence from the Olympics. Every young athlete shares the same dream: to become an Olympian. When a young girl is choosing a sport, she isn’t going to choose the one in which she is denied the chance to fulfill that dream. Additionally, by excluding women from competing in Nordic Combined, the IOC is failing to uphold one of the goals laid out in its charter. Founder Pierre de Coubertin stated, “The Olympic Games are open to all the world. No discrimination is allowed.”

This is not a new story. Since the very first Winter Olympics, certain sports and events have been open only to men. Over the course of a century, athletes and fans pushed back. Eventually, only two holdouts remained: ski jumping and Nordic Combined. In 2014, women’s ski jumping was added to the Winter Olympics, leaving Nordic Combined as the Winter Olympics’ last holdout.

Now it is time for us—the athletes, the fans, and everyone who believes in the Olympic dream—to speak up. Every year without women’s Nordic Combined at the Olympics sends a clear message to young girls watching from the sidelines: this dream is not for you. That message contradicts everything the Olympics claim to represent. Equality cannot be selective. Opportunity cannot be conditional. The women of Nordic Combined have earned their place.

NO E❌CEPTION Campaign Poster by Jack Kroll and Nordic Combined USA.

History will not remember the excuses used to delay equality; it will remember who stood in the way of it. The Olympics pride themselves on progress. It’s time they prove it. No more waiting. No more excuses. No exception.

What Can You Do?

Change does not happen quietly. A petition supporting the inclusion of women’s Nordic Combined in the Olympic Games is linked here for readers who want to add their voice. Fans can also support the sport by tuning in to men’s Nordic Combined at the Olympics. Strong viewership of the men’s event increases the likelihood that the IOC will add the women’s event. Here’s where and when to watch men’s Nordic Combined at the Olympics.