Poppy Bilderbeck
The International Olympic Committee are reportedly considering axing two Winter Olympics sports from the 2030 Games.
As swiftly as I start planning my next meal after eating the first, the Milano Cortina d'Amperzzo 2026 Olympic Games may've only come to a close on Sunday (February 22) but organizers are reportedly already cracking on with thinking about the next Olympic Games.
The 2023 French Alps Games is set to take place across Haute-Savoie, Savoie, Briançon and Nice.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has reportedly put several sports under review, taking into consideration how they did this year in terms of some specific factors, with the possibility of dropping the sports from the next Games altogether.
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But which two sports could face being cut and why?
The discipline has been part of the Olympics ever since 1998, the other snowboard racing event snowboard cross .
However, in September 2025, the IOC revealed it would be paying specific attention to PGS in Milan's Games.
Why? Well, two years ago, the IOC set three new targets for the future of the Games - to ensure the Games are 'balance, youth-focused, and cost-efficient'.
Snowboarder Justin Reiter argued to AP there is 'fantastic participation between both men and women,' in PGS and that it ticks the IOC's stressing of sports which support 'climate change, and cost for reusable venues' too.
However, in the 2010 Vancouver Games, PGS suffered at the hands of a rainstorm, competitors sliding off course.
AP News also reports the sport is considered as lacking star power, particularly when it comes to its US participants, which could matter given US TV network NBC helps fund the Olympics.
And Nordic combined events has faced similar issues.
AP similarly reports the Nordic combined events are facing potential scrapping by the IOC.
The first major competition for the sport was held years before, in 1892, in Oslo. And when the first Winter Olympic Games were held in France in 1924, Nordic combined was included.
Despite 2021 seeing the first women's world championship event, the 2026 Winter Olympics didn't agree to include a women's event.
The IOC reportedly justified its decision on the basis of Nordic combined not having a big enough audience even in the men's division, alongside pointing to a lack of 'diversity of countries' being able to take part, ESPN reported at the time.
The decision faced particular backlash given the IOC's release titled: "Milano Cortina 2026 set to become the most gender-balanced Olympic Winter Games in history."
The IOC's reported questioning over whether to include the sport in the next Olympics follows a small TV audience tuning in to watch this year's event.
The medals have also consistently been won by the same, small batch of countries most years.
A formal decision is anticipated as being revealed by June of this year.
And as well as two being lost, five may be added, President of the French Alps Organising Committee Edgar Grospiron suggesting 'ski mountaineering, speed skiing, telemark, even cross-country or cyclo-cross and why not ice-cross,' may be weighed up, in comments made to French outlet Le Dauphiné in 2025.
UNILAD has contacted the IOC for comment.