2030 Winter Olympics In French Alps Adds Synchro Skating And Freeride Skiing Events
The International Olympic Committee announced some updates this week regarding the 2030 Winter Olympics, which are taking place in the French Alps.
The program for the 2030 Games now includes two new disciplines, synchronized figure skating and freeride skiing. They also gave a reprieve to snowboard parallel giant slalom by keeping it on the program, and are completely dropping Nordic combined. These changes also mean that there are more female than male athletes competing at the next Winter Games.
Reports show that the IOC set a record quota of 3,046 athletes with 1,525 female and 1,521 male for the next Winter Games. In the most recent edition at the Milan Cortina Olympics this past February, there was a majority of male athletes among the nearly 2,900 athletes competing.
In the next edition in the French Alps, there will be more medal events for women than men with 56 compared to 55, and 15 mixed events in the 126 total.
The Nordic combined is the only sport that was an original Winter Games sport back in 1924, and had always been all-male. The IOC did have the option of adding women’s and team events, however they ended up completely cutting it, citing that it struggled to find a “modern audience” for its mix of ski jumping and cross-country skiing.
Nordic combined was also the only Winter Olympics sport that excluded a gender, so more men had an opportunity for gold.
The IOC executive board acknowledged that even outside of the Olympic Games, the sport did not have a strong international representation outside of Europe. The board also studied the popularity of it in 14 different ways before coming to their decision, including monitoring broadcast coverage, digital media interactions, and ticket sales.
The IOC said that Nordic combined ranked last in 11 out of the 14 indicators during the most recent Milan Cortina Winter Games.
Nordic combined race director at the International Ski and Snowboard Federation, Lasse Ottesen, stated that this decision from the IOC was “extremely disappointing.”
“I am at a loss for words and struggle to understand the reasoning behind it. Nordic combined has been at the heart of Nordic skiing and part of the Olympic Games since 1924,” he said.
IOC president Kristy Coventry said this week, however, that there is still hope that the discipline can return at the 2034 Utah Winter Games while acknowledging the disappointment those surrounding the event are feeling: “We know and can fully understand that this may come as a disappointment.”
“It is a shock that will take time to process,” said Norway’s Ida Marie Hagen, a two-time overall women’s World Cup champion.
“It feels really hard that we never even got the chance to show our sport in the Olympics before we were cut out. I love this sport and we will fight all we can so that the next generation will get the change in this sport as well. Hopefully in 2034.”
On the other end, synchronized skating is added to the list. The discipline is typically seen as only for women, however it will be left open to let men also compete in the French Alps.
Freeride skiing also will be added, allowing viewers to see professional skiers and snowboarders perform away from traditional slopes and on more natural terrain.
Eric Mastrota is a Contributing Editor at The National Digest based in New York. A graduate of SUNY New Paltz, he reports on world news, culture, and lifestyle. You can reach him at eric.mastrota@thenationaldigest.com.
