Lausanne, Switzerland, June 24, 2022: The sports and event programme of the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026 will include a record number of women’s events and will be the most gender-balanced Olympic Winter Games edition to date, with 47 per cent female participation. It was 40 per cent at Sochi 2014.
The programme has been approved by the IOC Executive Board based on the recommendations of the Olympic Programme Commission, which assessed the proposals from the International Federations.
Eight new events have been added to the programme, with a strong focus on gender equality in terms of events and female athlete quotas. This approach is in line with the objective of reducing the cost and complexity of hosting the Olympic Winter Games by using existing venues and respecting the overall athlete quota of 2,900.
The changes introduced for Milano Cortina concern four sports:
*Ski mountaineering (a new Olympic sport for these Games): Inclusion of three new events - men’s sprint, women’s sprint and mixed relay
*Bobsleigh: Inclusion of a skeleton mixed team event
*Luge: Inclusion of a women’s doubles event. Replacement of one open doubles event with one men’s doubles event
*Skiing: Inclusion of three new events: freestyle skiing men’s dual moguls, freestyle skiing women’s dual moguls and ski jumping women’s large hill individual. Removal of one event: Alpine mixed team parallel.
Five out of the seven Olympic Winter IFs had put forward a request for changes from the programme at the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022. Some 23 new events were proposed and an additional athlete quota of 359 (113 male/246 female) was requested.
The EB also discussed the status and challenges of Nordic Combined with regard to international representation, particularly outside Europe, at the last three editions of the Olympic Winter Games. This is demonstrated by the fact that, at the last three editions, the 27 medals available in Nordic Combined were won by athletes from only four NOCs. In addition, Nordic Combined had by far the lowest audience numbers during those Games.
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