Last Thursday was another dark day in the world of Nordic combined.
Park City’s USA Nordic Sport announced they were going to have to drop Nordic combined funding. USA Nordic also supports the national ski jumping and cross country teams.
The decision was made due to a lack of funds for the team. USA Nordic needed $150,000 more to continue a partnership with a Norwegian counterpart. The two organizations were two years into a four-year deal, sharing coaches, facilities and data between ski jumping and Nordic combined.
USA Nordic was founded in 2007 with the mission of helping all three disciplines survive. Women’s Nordic combined has already been slashed from the 2026 Milano Cortina Games, with men’s potentially on the 2030 chopping block. Nordic combined is the only Olympic sport without both a men’s and women’s event.
USA Nordic remains committed to helping Nordic combined athletes move forward by paying for the team’s director and insurances.
“We were not the national governing body. We don’t receive any money from the Olympic Committee. We don’t receive any money from U.S. Skiing,” said USA Nordic executive committee member Rex Bell on how funding fell apart. “We’re essentially a club program that took on the task of trying to support ski jumping in order to combine athletes.”
Bell said the Nordic combined team came to USA Nordic in the last 10 years, knowing they’d soon be cut from U.S. Ski and Snowboard funding. U.S. Ski and Snow cut off funding for the ski jumping team nearly two decades ago, when USA Nordic, then USA Ski Jumping, filled that void.
The majority of USA Nordic’s budget comes from private donations and fundraisers. The organization hit a rough patch for funding during the Covid-19 pandemic a few years back.
USA Nordic and the Nordic combined director Anders Johnson are still trying to help their former athletes qualify for FIS (International Ski and Snowboard Federation, international governing body) events moving forward. The FIS has nine Nordic combined World Cups scheduled for the 2024-25 season. The FIS kicks back some money that will go to the athletes for travel costs.
Bell said Johnson will be tasked with finalizing what support USA Nordic can provide in whole.
“When things get bumpy and you have to make hard decisions, it’s an opportunity to try and recraft, reorganize and in the interest of making things better and stronger,” added Bell on USA Nordic’s future. “The path forward is not clear, but that’s what we need to try and do is figure out how to turn this around and make something good out of it.”
Bell thinks the sport can have an FIS and Olympic future despite its grim outlook today. He said part of Nordic combined’s problem is its long format, making it a tough program to televise. He thinks there are ways to better showcase the sports’ talented athletes.
Bell thinks the IOC won’t leave men’s Nordic combined in the Games alone for long, which could be an advantage or disadvantage to its future. He said they’re likely to either add women’s back again or scrap both events.
Parkite and 2010 Vancouver gold medalist Billy Demong has helped found Nordic Combined USA with the help of Nordic combined parents. They’ll be trying to pick up some pieces and raise further funds for the sport and its U.S. athletes. Bell said Jill Brabec, parent of women’s team member Alexa Brabec, has been instrumental in Nordic Combined USA.
“I really admired the work that they put into trying to create more visibility for the sport and to raise dollars,” Bell said. “Billy is extremely talented in his ability to raise dollars.”
Bell said USA Nordic would consider bringing back the Nordic combined team in the future if they have the money to do so. He said it’s hard for them to support national teams, junior athletes and club programs all at once.
While the Nordic combined athletes were certainly disappointed when Johnson broke the news to them recently, they understood it was not a decision at which anyone wanted to arrive. Bell hopes for nothing but positive news down the road with the sport.