US athlete Annika Malacinski has opened up about training for 'five years' for a sport which the Olympics still doesn't allow women to compete in.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has explained why women are banned from competing in Nordic combined at the 2026 Winter Olympics.

Women have never competed in Nordic combined at the Olympics. The IOC is touting the 2026 Games as “the most gender-balanced Olympic Winter Games in history,” with women making up 47 percent of athletes. Twelve of the 16 disciplines include full gender parity. But one discipline lacks a women’s event altogether: Nordic combined.

Nordic combined has been part of every Winter Games program since 1924, but it’s facing existential questions stemming from participation numbers and gender equity.

Female athletes competing in Nordic combined plan to stage a protest Friday over the lack of a women's event at the 2026 Milan Cortina Olympics.

MILAN, Italy (AP) — Annika Malacinski remembers the moment the door to the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics was slammed shut. On a flight from Munich to Denver, she bought airplane Wi-Fi to join a conference call with the International Olympic Committee,