Synchronized figure skating and ski and snowboard freeride will make their Olympic debuts at the 2030 French Alps Games, the first gender-equal Winter Games.
Within existing sport disciplines, new events were also added in snowboarding (mixed team parallel), freestyle skiing (mixed team ski cross), speed skating (men’s and women’s team sprints), biathlon (mixed singles relay) and ski jumping (women’s super team).
Nordic combined was not retained for 2030, marking the first time the sport will not be held at a Winter Olympics. It could still return for the 2034 Games in Utah.
Nordic combined, the lone summer or winter sport to not have female representation at the Olympics, has been under IOC review for a few years. The International Ski and Snowboard Federation’s proposals to add women’s Nordic combined for the 2022 and 2026 Games were rejected.
“Across most of the popularity indicators, Nordic combined ranked lowest among all Olympic Winter Games disciplines at Sochi 2014, PyeongChang 2018, Beijing 2022 and Milano Cortina 2026,” according to the IOC. “At the most recent Olympic Winter Games, it was the lowest-ranked discipline in 11 of the 14 popularity indicators assessed.
“In addition, the discipline continues to face challenges in terms of universality and participation at the Olympic Games. Only five National Olympic Committees (NOCs) won medals in Nordic combined across the last four editions of the Olympic Winter Games.”
Lasse Ottesen, the FIS race director for Nordic combined, called the sport’s removal “extremely disappointing.”
“I am at a loss for words and struggle to understand the reasoning behind it,” he said. “The dedication and hard work of our female and male athletes, the outstanding commitment of our organizers, and the tremendous support from our National Ski Associations over many years have been nothing short of remarkable, and I fully understand their disappointment today.”
All four of the U.S.’ Olympic Nordic combined medals came at the 2010 Vancouver Games. Bill Demong capped it with gold in the sprint, then proposed to his girlfriend hours later.
After 2010, Norway, Germany, Austria, Finland and Japan combined to win the 36 Nordic combined medals over the four most recent Winter Games — including gold-medal sweeps by Germany in 2018 and Norway in 2026.
There will 1,525 female and 1,521 athlete quota places at the 2030 Games in 126 total medal events (56 women, 55 men and 15 mixed), the most ever at a Winter Games — 10 more than at the 2026 Milan Cortina Games.
Previously, it was announced the ski mountaineering, which made its Olympic debut in 2026, will return for 2030 at the French Alps’ organizers request. It will expand from three events to five, adding longer-distance men’s and women’s individual events to the sprints and mixed relay.
Snowboard parallel giant slalom, which has been on the Olympic program since 1998, was also reviewed and ultimately retained.
The IOC Executive Board “noted that PGS — as part of the discipline of snowboard — had demonstrated significant improvement since Beijing 2022 across a number of popularity indicators.”
In the synchronized figure skating event added for 2030, teams of nine skaters perform choreographed programs in a judged competition.
The U.S. team of the Haydenettes representing the Skating Club of Boston finished second, third and second at the last three World Championships, where 16 skaters per team take the ice.
Freeride, a judged ski and snowboard discipline, athletes go down an untouched mountain face marked only by a start gate and finish line.
Riders choose their own line, adding as many jumps, cliffs and technical elements as they want. Runs are judged on line choice, control, fluidity, technique and air and style.
A video explainer of freeride is here.
