Nordic combined skiers hope for a final chance to avoid being dropped from the 2030 Winter Olympics programme in the form of French President Emmanuel Macron.
German ski federation sporting director Horst Hüttel has said that the sport’s Olympic champion Jason Lamy Chappuis and fellow French former biathlon great Martin Fourcade want to lobby for Nordic combined at a meeting with Macron in November.
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“If there would be a signal from the host nation then that would be another chance,” Hüttel said.
Nordic combined, which twins ski jumping and cross country skiing, was on the programme of all Winter Olympics from the first edition in 1924 onwards. But it has been dropped by the International Olympic Committee for the 2030 Games in the French Alps. The women have never competed at the Olympics.
Hüttel said that a decision is planned for the fourth quarter of 2027 whether Nordic combined can return in 2034. He said that “if we face another rejection then, we will have no further options for elite sport.”
Former overall women’s World Cup champion Nathalie Armbruster said: “We simply don’t know anything yet. You feel quite helpless. I’ve fought so hard, and you get so tired of fighting. We have unbeatable arguments, but you still can’t make a difference.”
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An adjustment to the competition structure remains under discussion as a possible rescue measure. One possibility is a more compact schedule, in which the cross country portion could take place just 15 minutes after the last ski jumper has finished.
New formats may now be introduced in the World Cup “without testing them beforehand”, said Hüttel, adding: “The athletes are ready for anything. If that saves the situation, then they’ll do it.”
Germany coach Eric Frenzel also sees a more compact competition schedule as “the only possible way forward”.
In view of the uncertain future, three-time Olympic champion Frenzel said that they were “at the mercy of certain committees and decision-makers who sit much higher up”.
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