"Then the decision came: no.' No explanation, no discussion. Just no,' and then they moved on to the next topic, she told The Associated Press from her training base in Norway. I cried for eight hours straight on that flight. When I arrived in Denver, my eyes were swollen shut. It felt like my world had crashed."
"Malacinski is a frequent top-10 finisher at elite competitions in the sport that combines ski jumping and cross-country skiing and demands rigorous year-round training. Her younger brother, Niklas, will compete in the men's event for the United States and she plans to travel to northern Italy to cheer him on. It's bittersweet. I know how hard he works, and he absolutely deserves it, Malacinski said. I do the same sport as him. I jump the same ski jumps and ski the same courses. The only difference is that I'm a woman."
"Female skiers racing in Seefeld, Austria, last weekend protested the exclusion by raising their poles overhead to form an X. Men have competed in the Nordic combined since the first Winter Games more than a century ago, at Chamonix, France in 1924. The sport is now at risk of being removed from the program at the next Winter Olympics in 2030. The IOC says Nordic combined has struggled to attract participation from enough countries and draws a limited television audience."
Annika Malacinski and other female athletes have campaigned for inclusion of women in Olympic Nordic combined but faced a June 2022 IOC decision denying entry without explanation. Malacinski trains and finishes among the top competitors, and her brother will compete in the men's event at Milan Cortina, creating a bittersweet situation. Female skiers publicly protested the exclusion by forming an X with their poles in Seefeld, Austria. Men have competed in Nordic combined since 1924, but the sport faces possible removal from the Olympic program in 2030 amid concerns about limited country participation and television audience.
Read at www.mercurynews.com
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