Two Olympics Sports Could Be Removed After Milano Cortina 2026

With the 2026 Winter Olympic Games in Milano Cortina quickly approaching, it’s time to start planning for the 2030 Winter Olympic Games….Wait, what? Don’t you mean training, (any Olympians out there reading POWDER? Mikaela, is that you?)? Or following your favorite athletes closely to see what they’re up to pre-Milano Cortina?

Nope, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) is already hard at work on the French Alps 2030 games, and even Salt Lake 2034 Winter Games. The French Alps 2030 committee is working diligently and is taking what they learned from Paris 2024. They’ll join the Milano Cortina 2026 Observer’s program before duties and the Olympic flag are handed off during the closing ceremony.

Aside from organizing purely the logistics of the biggest sporting event in the world, the French Alps 2030 committee is also tasked with developing the discipline program(selecting which sports are included in the games).

Winter Games favorites like Alpine ski racing, slopestyle, and big air, are no brainers for inclusion in the program, but what about those more niche winter sports?

In anticipation of the Los Angeles 2028 Games, IOC developed an updated sports program evaluation criteria to determine the place of different sports disciplines in the games. These criteria were then adapted for winter sports ahead of French Alps 2030 and include prioritizing a reduction in cost and complexity in hosting the Games, engaging the best athletes in the world with an emphasis on health and safety, prioritizing gender equality, and supporting environmental sustainability to foster long-term sustainability amongst other things.

Final decisions on sports disciplines for French Alps 2030 won’t take place until December, but with the updated criteria in mind, several possible changes are on the docket.

In particular, the snowboard parallel giant slalom and Nordic combined events are under consideration for elimination from the Games after Milano Cortina 2026. However, data on these events from Milano Cortina 2026 will be evaluated and considered in this decision.

This evaluation could also mean adding a big mountain freeride category that FIS has been angling for.

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For now, snowboard parallel giant slalom and Nordic combined are safe and will continue as planned at Milano Cortina 2026.

Looking further ahead to Salt Lake 2034, the IOC has created philanthropic opportunities for organizations and families local to the Salt Lake area to support the games.

The initiative, which is called Podium34, had already secured financial commitments of more than $200M USD from 17 Founding Donors, nine of which contributed $20M or more.

POWDER is excited to have on-site coverage of Milano Cortina 2026, stay tuned for more.

Related: What Is Dual Moguls? Learn All About The Olympics’ New Freestyle Skiing Competition