Executive Board of International Olympic Committee announces new competition event formats for Milano Cortina 2026

New Delhi [India], June 21 : The Executive Board (EB) of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), together with the qualification systems for five sports approved changes of formats and names involving four events on the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026 sports program on Tuesday.

The Olympics.com released an official statement to announce that the IOC EB decision follows proposals submitted by the International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS) and the subsequent recommendations from the Olympic Programme Commission (OPC).

The first event included is Alpine combined.

"From an individual Alpine combined event to a team combined event. This event will see two athletes of the same gender from the same National Olympic Committee (NOC) compete together. The competition format is the result of a downhill run and a single slalom run. One athlete from each team will compete in the downhill with the other competing in the slalom, with the result being calculated based on the aggregate times of the two athletes in each team," as quoted by Olympics.com.

The second event is Nordic combined men's team format.

"From team Gundersen large hill/4x5km (four athletes) to team sprint large hill/2x7.5km (two athletes). This event will be made up of teams of two athletes of the same gender and from the same NOC, instead of four previously. Each athlete will have one jump on the large hill. Both athletes will then alternate and ski a 1.5km loop five times each (7.5km each instead of 5km previously)." as quoted by Olympics.com.

The third event is the Ski jumping team format.

"From the men's team (four athletes) to the men's super team (two athletes). Two athletes of the same gender and from the same NOC, instead of four previously, will compete in this new event. The competition format includes three rounds: in the first round all teams are allowed to start, while only the best 12 teams move forward to the second round, and in the third competition round the best eight teams conclude the competition. To calculate the result, the points of the athletes from the same team will be added together.

Cross-country: alignment of all cross-country skiing competition distances for both men and women," as quoted by Olympics.com.

Men's and women's Alpine combined events were included in this sports programme only provisionally. They are subject to confirmation on the format. This was done to allow FIS additional time to finalise its competition format proposal and to collect feedback from the relevant stakeholders which includes the FIS Athletes' Commission.

The IOC EB also approved the qualification systems for Milano Cortina 2026 for biathlon, curling, figure skating, short-track speed skating and ski mountaineering events.

No major changes have been made compared to the respective Beijing 2022 qualification systems. There is an exception of ski mountaineering, which is a new sport that has been added to the Olympic programme for Milano Cortina 2026.

The decision follows the approval of the event programme and athlete quota by the IOC EB in June 2022.

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