2026 Olympics: “For women’s Nordic combined to be included in the Games, you have to watch the men”, urges France’s Léna Brocard
“The most gender-balanced Olympic Winter Games in history”: the IOC keeps repeating this argument at its various press conferences. 47% of the Olympians in Milan/Cortina are women, which is higher than the 45% in Beijing 2022, the 40% in Vancouver 2010, the 30% in Lillehammer 1994 and the 21% in Calgary 1988. But parity has still not been achieved, unlike at the Summer Olympics.
Refusal by the IOC for both 2022 and 2026
This is due to the lower number of women’s selections in ice hockey (10 compared to 12), but also to the total absence of women from the Nordic combined. Since the first Olympic Games were held in Chamonix in 1924, the sport has always featured events contested by men. For the 2026 Olympic Games, however, the International Ski Federation had asked for women’s formats to be included. But as with the 2022 edition, the request was refused by the IOC. The IOC did not want to broaden the programme of a sport that it considers to be on borrowed time, due to disappointing attendance figures. Rather than make an immediate decision, the Lausanne-based body opted for the status quo. To the detriment of the combined events.
Among the arguments put forward by the IOC was “the participation of athletes from only ten national federations” at the first women’s world championships in 2021. This number has risen to 13 for the 2025 edition, including eight different nations in the top 15 of the mass-start. We’ve made good progress on this,” says France’s Léna Brocard, 17th overall in the World Cup. The sport has become more universal, with seven countries on the podium this season. The start lists are getting bigger every year, with 32 women taking part in the Seefeld Triple. Overall, six different nations are represented in the top 6.
“What I miss is being a man”.
Although the decision had been known since 2022, Léna Brocard still felt a twinge of sadness on 20 January, when the French men’s selection was announced. It was a blow,” she admits. When the selections were announced, you realised that people who weren’t as well placed overall were in the squad [no Frenchman was better placed than her]. What I miss is being a man.
Undaunted, the competitors continued to try to raise awareness of their cause. A case in point was their protest movement in the start area of the Seefeld Triple cross-country races. At the signal of Norwegian general leader Ida Marie Hagen, they all raised their batons in the air and crossed them to symbolise their refusal to take part in the Olympics.
“It was a way of marking the occasion. We could see that people were supporting us, including the FIS [who broadcast the gesture as well as the spectators’ placards, editor’s note]. It’s heart-warming,” says Léna Brocard. She also published an Instagram post on 22 January, which went viral beyond the small world of combined racing. She wrote: “When the biggest stage in the world arrives, we watch it from the edge of the piste. Not because we’re not ready, but because the door is still closed.”
Combined teams will still take part in the 2026 Olympic Games
To get around this ban, several competitors decided to try their luck in one of the two disciplines that make up the combined event. Austria’s Lisa Hirner and Finland’s Minja Korhonen and Heta Hirvonen qualified in ski jumping. Slovenia’s Ema Volavsek thought about taking part in cross-country skiing, but the mass of events in classic style (sprint, skiathlon, mass-start) made her reconsider her idea, while the combined competitions are always contested in skate style.
American Tara Geraghty-Moats opted for the biathlon, but eventually cut the project short after failing to make the national selections at the start of the season.
Has Léna Brocard considered doing the same, given that France has refused a quota in ski jumping ? I hurt my ankle during the summer preparations, and I didn’t start jumping again until August. It was too late to consider taking part in special jumping World Cups and achieving the federal minimums. But it’s still great that the Finnish girls and Lisa [Hirner] are taking part in the Olympics, it gives us a certain amount of visibility and it’s proof of our level. They’ve all already achieved top 30 finishes in the World Cup, and Heta [Hirvonen] even scored a top 10!
To get the women’s combined event into the Olympics, the competitors recommend… watch the men
In order to avoid a month without competition before the last two World Cup stages in March, the vast majority of the women’s circuit will be competing in the lower echelons. From 13 to 15 February, the Continental Cup in Lillehammer (Norway) will play host to the elite of women’s Nordic combined, in the midst of the Olympic Games. France’s Romane Baud and Léna Brocard will be taking part. Other competitors aiming to take part in the Junior World Championships (held at the same venue) will be rubbing shoulders with Ida Marie Hagen, winner of 10 of the 12 races contested this season.
But even if they are not invited, the women’s combined events will not be boycotting the Olympic Games. On the contrary: “To those who ask us how we can get women’s Nordic combined into the Olympics, my advice is to watch the boys. The bigger the audience and the greater the interest, the better our chances of being there.
In June, the IOC will make its decision: either the combined event remains on the programme, with women’s races, or the discipline will disappear from the Games. Without the women even having a chance to defend their place.
- Tesero Cross-Country Skiing Stadium: everything you need to know about the Val di Fiemme stadium, which hosts the Nordic combined events at the Milan/Cortina Olympic Games
- Predazzo Ski Jumping Stadium: everything you need to know about the venue hosting the Nordic combined events at the Milan/Cortina Olympic Games
- The complete Nordic combined programme for the Milan/Cortina Olympic Games
- Why are there no women’s events in Nordic combined?
- France TV and Eurosport coverage of the Milan/Cortina 2026 Olympic Games
