IOC foresees most gender-balanced Winter Games at Milano Cortina 2026

BEIJING  -- The International Olympic Committee (IOC) Executive Board (EB) on Friday approved that the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026 will feature a record number of women's events and will be "the most gender-balanced Olympic Winter Games" with 47% female participation.

"We are moving from 40 percent female participation at Sochi 2014 to 47 percent in Milano Cortina. We are committed to continuing to advance gender equality, and Milano Cortina will be another key milestone in this endeavor," IOC President Thomas Bach said.

Nordic Combined will be the only event without women at the 2026 Winter Olympics, as the women's event has only had one World Championship and only 10 National Federations competed.

The IOC EB decided to add eight new events as ski mountaineering has new inclusion of men's and women's sprints and mixed relay, while skiing competitions also has three new events of men's and women's freestyle dual moguls, as well as ski jumping women's large hill individual.

Skeleton mixed team event is added into bobsleigh and a women's doubles event is included into luge.

Men's doubles luge replaces the open doubles and Alpine mixed team parallel is removed from the Olympics.

In addition to emphasizing gender equality, these changes are consistent with the goal to lower the cost and complexity of hosting the Olympic Winter Games by utilizing existing venues and adhering to the overall athlete quota of 2,900.

The future of Nordic Combined at the Winter Games is unclear, as the IOC is not committing to keeping the event in 2030 unless more audiences and athletes participate.

The IOC EB also discussed the status of the Nordic Combined. A total of 27 medals in Nordic Combined has been won by only four National Olympic Committees in the last three Winter Olympics, and the event's popularity and attention outside of Europe have been a source of concern. During those Games, it also had the lowest audience numbers.