The U.S. Nordic combined program has been saved for the upcoming World Cup season, thanks to desperately needed financial help from the International Ski and Snowboard Federation.

FIS awarded a grant to Nordic Combined USA last week, something the Steamboat Springs, Colo.-based nonprofit needed to enter into a new partnership with its Norwegian counterpart.

“It’s definitely an extreme relief,” 2026 Olympic hopeful Niklas Malacinski told the Associated Press. “I don’t know how it would have been done otherwise.”

Americans who compete internationally in Nordic combined, which encompasses ski jumping and cross-country skiing, lost training and training funding from USA Nordic Sport last June.

The move sent athletes, their parents and supporters of the sport scrambling to save the American men’s and women’s season after they showed signs of improvement during a two-year partnership with the Norwegians traditionally powerful.

Nordic Combined USA was created to pick up the pieces. The all-volunteer nonprofit led by President Jill Brabec, whose daughter, Alexa, is Nordic combined athlete and four-time Olympian Taylor Fletcher, has asked donors for funds and applied for a grant from the FIS.

Approximately $350,000 was raised toward the organization’s $500,000 budget for the 2024-2025 season.

“We’ve come a long way, but we still have a long way to go,” said Fletcher, who is on the Nordic Combined USA board of directors.

The Americans will share their coaches, training facilities, sports science and efforts to attract sponsors with the Norges Hopplandslaget. Even though Norway competes with the United States, it wants to be part of a sport that is often overlooked outside of Norway, Germany and Austria.

“We need the American team up there to make the Nordic combined stronger in the short and long term,” said Norwegian team sporting director Ivar Stuan.

In the past, Americans have had some success in the sport. Bill Demong became the first American to win Olympic gold in Nordic combined at the 2010 Vancouver Games, where the Americans also won two silver medals.

It is in the sport’s best interest to have an American presence, as Nordic combined could potentially be excluded from the 2030 Winter Games in the French Alps. This would be a way of considering this discipline as the only Olympic sport without gender equality.

“There’s always that risk,” Fletcher said. “The Olympics are always looking to keep a program up to date and adding sports may come at a cost to other sports.

“We will focus on developing the sport to create a great television product in as many countries as possible. We are fortunate to once again have this partnership with Norway to allow our athletes to showcase their sport in the United States and around the world.

Nordic combined, part of the first Winter Olympics in 1924, challenges athletes in a unique way. They must have the finesse and fearlessness for ski jumping as well as the strength and endurance for a 10-kilometer cross-country ski course.

The Nordic Combined World Cup season begins on November 28 in Ruka, Finland.

FIS Nordic Combined Director Lasse Ottesen declined to say how much money had been donated to Nordic Combined USA.

“The amount of the grant is confidential, but we hope that this support will contribute to the further development of cooperation with Norway and youth development,” Ottesen said on Tuesday. “The United States is an important part of the Nordic combined family and we of course look forward to returning to Salt Lake in 2034 for the Olympic Games. »

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