The fascinating story of the female Nordic combined athletes

While the men already combined at the Olympic Games in 1924, at the World Championships in 1925 and in the World Cup from 1983, the women had to wait a long time for their official starting point. This was an international FIS Pupils' Grand Prix in Oberstdorf in the Allgäu region on the 29th August 2014. Around 40 female athletes from nine nations competed in the combined event and determined their winners in three age groups. Around a quarter of them are still active in the combined World Cup today, while a third have switched to speciality jumping. It is no longer possible to determine which of the 40 was the very first to compete in Nordic combined, or whether there were female competitors in this discipline in Japan or the USA earlier than in Europe. In most nations, all junior athletes compete in Nordic competitions both on the ski jump and on the cross-country ski trail up to the end of the school year (at the age of 13/14).

In Austria, Timna Moser from Absam is considered a pioneer of Nordic combined. "I wouldn't call myself that now," she says with a laugh. "But I'm delighted that the sport has developed so positively in Austria and that the girls can now compete in the World Cup and at world championships." She herself got into Nordic skiing through her older brother. "He always wanted to do biathlon and, as a little sister, I followed in his footsteps. I first learnt cross-country skiing in the Nordic Team Absam and later tried ski jumping." Like all young athletes, Moser always competed in both disciplines. In spring 2014, she passed the entrance exam for the Stams Ski High School as a specialised jumper, as there was no 'Nordic combined for girls' department there at the time. However, after she confidently won her first official competition in this discipline in summer 2014, she enrolled at the elite boarding school as a combined skier. "In the beginning, I was always travelling alone with a bunch of lads, which was challenging for me and the coaches." They first had to find out how Moser stood up to the boys in training. "It was pretty tough at times, but I always felt very comfortable in the team." Although Moser won almost all junior competitions for several years, her career ended when she left school in Stams. "I suffered two fatigue fractures and was injured for a long time. I somehow lost my inner connection to my sport." Today, the 25-year-old studies, gives cross-country skiing courses for adults and follows the combined competitions of her successors on television or, as in Seefeld, sometimes on site.

The Tyrolean has only witnessed the major developments in the women's competitions as a spectator. But another Austrian has been there live everywhere - Lisa Hirner. The Styrian actually wanted to become a ski jumper like her father and uncle. "But in my training group at the main ski school in Eisenerz, they were all combined skiers. I had the choice of watching the cross-country training or joining in." Watching was not for her, and neither was cross-country skiing at first.

But then she slowly grew into it and today she can't imagine doing anything else. After the Nordic combined athletes and their competition were not included in the programme for the 2026 Olympic Games in Milan/Cortina, the media asked Hirner whether she was now considering switching to speciality jumping. Her answer was clearly no: "I will (...) still stick with this sport and keep fighting." (Der Standard, 28.6.2022)

The combined skiers still have to wait to take part in the Olympic Games. They are now taking part in all other competition series and major events. Continental Cup competitions were held for the first time in the 2017/18 season. This was followed in January 2018 by a test event at the Junior World Championships in Kandersteg (Switzerland), which Jenny Nowak from Germany won and Hirner came fourth. In 2019, Ayane Miyazaki from Japan was crowned the first official junior world champion, with Hirner coming fifth. One year later, in 2020 in Oberwiesenthal (Thuringia), she finally made it onto the podium and the Styrian won bronze, the first junior world championship medal for the Austrian combined athletes.

But 2020 had a much bigger highlight in store for Hirner. For the first time, the combined athletes were allowed to compete at the Youth Olympic Games in Lausanne (YOG), and the athlete from Leoben won the gold medal in the individual competition in Prémanon/Les Tuffes. Together with Stefan Rettenegger, she was also part of the winning team in the 'Nordic Team Event Ski Jumping', which was contested by two athletes from the combined and two from the specialised jumping events. "I went there with low expectations and then came home with two gold medals. That was the moment that reinforced my desire to be at the top at the Olympics." (Der Standard, 28 June 2022)

Until then, however, there were and are still a few steps to take in this young sport. The next was the first World Cup in history in December 2020 in Ramsau. There, many athletes had the goal of reaching the top and making their mark in the history books. Tara Gerathy-Moats succeeded. However, the US American is considered one of the pioneers of the women's Nordic combined not only because of this victory. Like Moser and Hirner, the now 30-year-old was there from the very beginning and dominated the Continental Cup series for three years before the World Cup was introduced. At the first World Championships in Oberstdorf in February 2021, however, the Norwegians stole the show with a triple victory. The title was won by Gyda Westvold Hansen, who was only 18 at the time and has dominated the World Cup and World Championships at will ever since, even more so than her team-mate Jarl Magnus Riiber in the men's event.