Seven Days to Decide the Future of Two Winter Olympic Sports

With seven days remaining until a key International Olympic Committee (IOC) Executive Board meeting (on the 7th of July) expected to discuss the sports programme for the 2030 Winter Olympics, athletes from across the world have united to call for Parallel Giant Slalom (PGS) and Nordic Combined  to retain their places on the Olympic stage.

Competitors from multiple nations are speaking out in defence of the disciplines.

• Parallel GS  has been part of Olympic snowboarding since the sport's introduction to the Winter Games and is widely regarded as the foundation of competitive snowboard racing.

• A founding Winter Olympic discipline since 1924, Nordic Combined now faces a defining moment. While women compete internationally at World Cup and World Championship level, the sport remains the only discipline on the Winter Olympic programme without women's participation.

PGS is one of the fastest-growing winter disciplines in emerging markets, with participation now spanning more than 20 countries and strong momentum building across Asia and emerging winter sport regions. In the 2026 Olympic cycle, medals were shared across five nations: South Korea, Austria, Bulgaria, Italy, and the Czech Republic, reflecting a competitive balance that few Winter Olympic events can match. Removing PGS from the programme would cut the sport's strongest connection to new and growing global audiences at precisely the moment that connection is deepening.

Iris Pflum, a U.S. snowboarder, said, "PGS is the heartbeat of our sport. Every snowboarder, at every level, finds their racing foundations in PGS. It is where technique, courage and race instinct come together for the first time. I want to look the IOC Executive Board in the eye and ask them: if you remove this discipline, what are you telling every young snowboarder in Asia, in Eastern Europe, in every nation where this sport is growing? You are not just cutting an event; you are cutting the future of the entire sport."

A discipline present at the Winter Olympics since snowboarding's debut on the programme, PGS now faces a defining moment. Widely regarded as the foundation of competitive snowboarding, it is the purest expression of the sport. Two athletes race side-by-side on identical parallel courses, separated by hundredths of a second, in a direct head-to-head knockout format that rewards precision and consistency above all else.

Alex Payer of Austria said, "In seven days, the IOC Executive Board has the chance to protect something genuinely special. PGS is one of the only events in the Winter Olympics where everything is completely equal, same course, same conditions, same start, same chance. That kind of fairness is rare in top level sport, so it matters. It matters to the athletes who have dedicated their lives to this discipline, and it matters to every young rider who looks at the Olympic programme and sees a realistic pathway to the top. I urge the board to fight for that."

Beyond its sporting merit, PGS stands out as one of the most cost-efficient and globally scalable events on the Winter Olympic programme. It relies on existing public infrastructure, significantly reduces the need for artificial snow production, and can be hosted on small or mid-sized slopes without major alpine investment. The discipline has even been staged indoors, with World Cup events previously held in the Netherlands, demonstrating its potential to bring elite winter sport to entirely new global audiences.

Tervel Zamfirov of Bulgaria said: "I am asking the IOC Executive Board to understand what PGS means at grassroots level. For smaller nations, this is not just one event among many. It is everything. It is the reason we have a snowboard programme, the reason young athletes in our country believe they can one day stand on an Olympic podium. Take away PGS and you do not just shrink the Olympic programme, you extinguish that belief entirely. The IOC has always said the Games should be for everyone. PGS is proof that they can be."

On the Nordic Combined side Annika Malacinski, a U.S. Nordic Combined athlete, said, “Competing at this level without an Olympic event for women is difficult to accept. We train, travel and compete at the highest level of our sport, yet the Olympic pathway still does not exist for women.

This situation is just plain wrong, and simply not fair in the modern age we all live in. My fellow female athletes and I should be given the chance to compete in the Olympics with the men, so Nordic Combined must play a part in the French Alps in 2030 with women at the start line.

A founding Winter Olympic discipline since 1924, Nordic Combined now faces a defining moment. While women compete internationally at World Cup and World Championship level, the sport remains the only discipline on the Winter Olympic programme without women's participation.

Ilkka Herola, a Finnish Nordic Combined skier and Olympian, said, “This sport has always been about pushing limits. So now is not the time to retreat and step away from the Olympics, but instead it must push through the final barrier and allow women to compete in this blue-ribbon event alongside the men at the 2030 French Alps games.

The focus now should be on making sure it continues to move forward, not stand still while the Olympic programme evolves.”

Women have competed in Nordic Combined at World Cup level since 2020 and at the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships since 2021. The sport already operates with shared venues, ski jumps and cross-country courses, meaning Olympic inclusion could be delivered without additional infrastructure.

The outcome will determine whether Nordic Combined remains on the Olympic programme and whether women are finally allowed to compete in the last Olympic sport that does not currently include a women's event.

The IOC Executive Board's decision is expected to shape the future of Olympic snowboarding and Nordic Combined ahead of the 2030 Winter Games, with athletes now making a united appeal for both to remain part of the programme.