The exciting history of female Nordic combiners

While the men had already combined at the Olympic Games in 1924, at World Championships in 1925, and in the World Cup since 1983, the women had to wait a long time for their official starting point. This was marked by an international FIS Schüler Grand Prix in Oberstdorf in the Allgäu on August 29, 2014. Around 40 athletes from nine nations participated in the combination event, competing for victory in three age categories. About a quarter of them are still active in the Women's World Cup, while a third switched to special jumping. It is not possible to determine who among the 40 was the very first to compete in Nordic combined, or if there were competitors in this discipline in Japan or the USA prior to Europe. In most nations, it is generally the case that until the end of the youth age groups (around 13/14 years old), all young athletes in Nordic competitions participate both on the jump and in the track.

In Austria, Timna Moser from Absam is considered a pioneer of Nordic Combined. “I wouldn’t describe myself that way,” she says with a laugh. “But I’m glad 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 got into Nordic skiing through her older brother. “He always wanted to do biathlon, and I followed him in everything as his little sister. In the Nordic Team Absam, I first learned cross-country skiing and later tried ski jumping.” Like all young athletes, Moser always started in both disciplines. In spring 2014, she passed the entrance exam for the Skigymnasium Stams as a special jumper since there wasn’t a department for ‘Nordic Combination for girls’ back then. However, after she confidently won the first official competition in this discipline in summer 2014, she switched to being a combined athlete at the elite boarding school. “At first, I was always alone with a bunch of boys, which was challenging for me and the coaches.” They had to figure out what Moser could endure compared to the boys during training. “That was sometimes quite tough, but I always felt very comfortable in the team.” Although Moser won nearly all youth competitions for several years, her time in Stams also marked the end of her career. “I suffered two stress fractures and was injured for a long time. In the process, I somehow lost the inner connection to my sport.” Today, the 25-year-old studies, teaches cross-country skiing courses for adults, and follows the combined competitions of her successors on television or, as in Seefeld, sometimes on site.

The significant development milestones of the women's competitions have only been witnessed by the Tyrolean as a spectator. However, another Austrian was live everywhere – Lisa Hirner. Initially, the Styrian wanted to become a ski jumper, just like her father and uncle. "In my training group at the ski secondary school in Eisenerz, everyone was a combined athlete. I had the choice of either watching the cross-country training or participating." Watching wasn't for her, cross-country skiing at first wasn't either. But slowly, she grew into it and today, she can't imagine anything else.

After the Nordic combined women were not included in the program of the 2026 Olympic Games in Milano/Cortina, the media asked Hirner if she was considering a switch to special jumping. Her answer was a clear no: "I will (...) still stay in this sport and continue to fight." (Der Standard, 28.6.2022)

The female combiners will thus have to wait for a participation in the Olympic Games. They are now part of all other competition series and major events. In the 2017/18 season, Continental Cup competitions were held for the first time. In January 2018, a test event took place at the Junior World Championships in Kandersteg (Switzerland), which Jenny Nowak from Germany won, while Hirner finished fourth. In 2019, Ayane Miyazaki from Japan became the first official Junior World Champion, with Hirner coming in fifth. A year later, in 2020 in Oberwiesenthal (Thuringia), she finally made it to the podium, and the Styrian won bronze, bringing home the first junior world championship medal for the Austrian combiners.

But 2020 had a much bigger highlight in store for Hirner. For the first time, female combiners were allowed to participate in the Youth Olympic Games in Lausanne (YOG), and the athlete from Leoben won the gold medal in the individual competition in Prémanon/Les Tuffes. In addition, she was part of the winner team in the Nordic Team Event Ski Jumping, which involved two athletes from the combination and two from the special jumping. "I went there with low expectations and then returned home with two gold medals. That was the moment that increased my desire to also stand at the top in the Olympics one day." (Der Standard, 28.6.2022)

Until then, however, there are still some steps to be taken in this young sport. The next one was the first World Cup in history in December 2020 in Ramsau. There, many female athletes aimed to stand at the very top and thus irrevocably enter the history books. Tara Gerathy-Moats succeeded in that. The American is considered one of the pioneers of women's Nordic combined, not only because of this victory. The now 30-year-old was, like Moser and Hirner, involved from the start and dominated the Continental Cup series for three years before the introduction of the World Cup. However, at the first World Championships in February 2021 in Oberstdorf, she was overshadowed by the Norwegians, who achieved a triple victory. The title was won by the then 18-year-old Gyda Westvold Hansen, who has since dominated the World Cup and the World Championship events more than her teammate Jarl Magnus Riiber among the men.