Winter Olympics adds synchro skating and freeride for 2030 in French Alps. Nordic combined dropped

The 2030 French Alps Winter Games program agreed by the International Olympic Committee on Tuesday adds two new disciplines, reprieves snowboard parallel giant slalom. and removes Nordic combined which is currently for only men.

The IOC executive board had a gender parity option by adding women’s and team events, but instead cut completely a sport that has a 102-year Olympic history yet struggled to find a modern audience for its mix of ski jumping and cross-country skiing.

Synchronized skating is widely seen as a discipline for only women, and will join the Olympics in the nine-member Synchro9 format in 2030.

Synchro will be female only when it debuts at the 2028 Youth Winter Olympics in Italy, with a future decision left open to let men also compete in the French Alps.

Freeride takes skiers and snowboarders off traditional slopes to do jumps and turns on more natural terrain.

Snowboard PGS helped make an Olympic star of Czech two-time gold medalist Ester Ledecka and is retained for 2030, the IOC said. The discipline had been at risk after its racing style fell out of favor compared to events with jumps and tricks.

Nordic combined was the only Winter Olympic sport that excluded a gender, giving men an opportunity to go for gold while women were relegated to watching.

The IOC executive board previously lamented that the sport did not have strong international representation outside of Europe.

The governing body studies the popularity of disciplines in 14 ways, including broadcast coverage, digital media and ticket sales. The IOC said Nordic combined ranked last in 11 of 14 indicators during the Milan Cortina Winter Games this year.

Lasse Ottesen, the Nordic combined race director at the International Ski and Snowboard Federation, said the IOC decision was extremely disappointing.

“I am at a loss for words and struggle to understand the reasoning behind it,” Ottesen said. “Nordic combined has been at the heart of Nordic skiing and part of the Olympic Winter Games since 1924.”

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AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics