The IOC executive board on Tuesday voted to change the Winter Games program for 2030 to add three new disciplines and 16 events while cutting Nordic combined. It approved adding freeride for ski and snowboard and synchro9 for figure skating, moves that would make the French Alps 2030 the first gender equal Winter Games.
As the IOC reviews disciplines in each version of the Games as part of President Kirsty Coventry’s “Fit for the Future” reforms, the additions could blunt some of the criticism likely to come from cutting Nordic combined. The discipline had been in every Winter Games going back to their start in 1924, but only for men. Several top women athletes had pushed for its inclusion for women.
In cutting the discipline, the IOC cited its study of 14 popularity indicators that it conducts during each Games -- which include broadcast coverage, digital media and ticketing -- saying Nordic combined ranked lowest among all disciplines at the past four Games. In the Milan Cortina Games earlier this year, it ranked last in 11 of the 14 indicators.
IOC sport director Pierre Ducrey said the data did not show “a progress that would justify keeping the discipline.”
The IOC’s new process would allow for future hosts, including Utah 2034, to propose Nordic combined or other disciplines cut from the program for their editions of the Games.
Ski mountaineering was approved for inclusion for the French Alps. The discipline made its debut during the Milan Cortina Games after being put forward by the organizing committee.
The IOC’s addition of freeride and synchro9 gives it disciplines that have proven popular with younger audiences. Freeride will have men’s and women’s events in both freeskiing and snowboarding, bringing in opportunities for 44 athletes. The discipline includes athletes competing in natural fields of play and attempting runs on unmarked slopes.
Synchro9 is a synchronized team event that has been sanctioned by the International Skating Union since the 1990s. That event helped push the IOC over the line of gender equity, with the IOC approving a quota of 1,525 women and 1,521 men.
The IOC also added events in biathlon, speed skating and ski and snowboard.
“What I expect in the future is it to be a little bit fluid,” Coventry said. “We don’t want to leave anyone out just because we’re stuck on a specific number. We would love to be able to ensure that every game is 50-50 but if we are going to get down to a process in the program where maybe it’s 49%, 51% or vice versa, male-female, I think that would be okay too. It’s just the priority that this is important for us to continue to keep working towards, and not just on the field of play.”
