By Liz Hampton and Tommy Lund PREDAZZO, Italy, Feb 20 (Reuters) - Nordic combined closed on a bittersweet note at the Winter Games, with these Olympics possibly the sport's last and women glaringly missing from competition.

Sibling Annika and Niklas Malacinski represent Team USA in Nordic combined, an original Olympic sport. One is at Milan Games. The other isn't.

In January 2026, during official Nordic Combined World Cup events held in Central Europe —with visible actions in venues such as Seefeld, Austria, and

Despite calls from athletes, the International Olympic Committee continues to exclude women from Nordic combined. For Annika Malacinski, that exclusion is especially difficult. Her brother, Niklas, will compete in Milan Cortina in a sport that has been in the Olympics since 1924.

Nordic combined has reached a critical juncture ahead of the Milano Cortina Games, with U.S. athlete Annika Malacinski among those leading a push to draw attention to the sport’s uncertain future as women remain excluded from the Olympic programme.

MILAN, Italy -- 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, certain ...