July 14, 2017 (Park City, Utah) – Last weekend in Lausanne, Switzerland, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced the addition of a Women’s Nordic Combined event at the upcoming 2020 Winter Youth Olympic Games being held in Lausanne. The inclusion of the women’s event is part of a greater effort by the IOC towards gender equity that has seen the inclusion of more women’s fields and mixed fields over the past decade.

The news comes less than two months after USA Nordic Sport announced the inclusion of a Women’s Nordic Combined event at the 2018 US National Championships being held October 7 in Lake Placid, NY.

“This is a really exciting development in line with FIS and USA Nordic’s efforts to fast track Women’s Nordic Combined,” said Executive Director Bill Demong of USA Nordic. “With a great crop of young talent in the United States, we are excited to have women nordic combined showcased on the world stage so soon and we are looking forward to continuing to develop training plans and opportunities for the youth eligible for the Games, like the FIS Youth Cup trip planned for August.”

The announcement was one of several exciting developments that came at the conclusion of the meeting of the Executive Board of the IOC. Other decisions made at the meeting included the addition of an “innovative” mixed three on three ice hockey tournament, a women’s doubles event in luge, and, finally, ski mountaineering will be included for the first time in Lausanne.