Nordic combined commences at Milan Cortina 2026 on Wednesday, Feb. 11. As one of the six original sports that has been contested at every Winter Olympics, Nordic combined is also the only sport without a women’s competition.

The three Nordic combined events — normal hill, large hill, and mixed team large hill — each take place across three different days, with each respective event’s ski jump and cross-country portions occurring on the same day.

Since Nordic combined demands athletes to be proficient in two unique sports, athletes must balance their training regiment to ensure they remain lightweight enough to leap large distances in the ski jump portion while building muscle mass to race through the cross-country piste. Thus, it’s uncommon to see athletes that compete in ski jumping or cross-country skiing also competing in Nordic combined.

Since the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, a number of prominent Nordic combined athletes have retired, opening the door for rising talent to reach the podium. Norwegian legends Jarl Magnus Riiber and Jorgen Graabak surprised the field by announcing their retirements less than a year before Milan Cortina 2026 to focus on their families. Riiber is the reigning world champion in individual normal and large hill, while Graabak holds the record for the most Olympic gold medals in the sport. He’s the defending Olympic champion in the individual large hill and team large hill events.

German Eric Frenzel, a two-time Olympic gold medalist in individual normal hill, also retired after the Beijing Games.

Here’s what we can expect heading into Milan Cortina 2026.

Two sets of brother — Jens and Einar Luraas Oftebro of Norway and Austrians Thomas and Stefan Rettenegger — headline the field as antitheses of each other thanks to their specialties. The Luraas Oftebro siblings are explosive on the cross-country piste, making up for any time lost in the ski jump portion. On the other hand, the Rettenegger brothers are considered some of the best ski jumpers in the field, relying on strong jumps to gain time advantages in the cross-country segment.

Both sets of siblings boast impressive results. Jens Luraas Oftebro is fresh off three World Cup wins in the past month, while older brother Einar Luraas Oftebro collected eight top-10 World Cup finishes in the same period. Thomas Rettenegger clinched two World Cup wins, while Stefan Rettenegger took 1st at two Grand Prix competitions this season.

While the Rettenegger brothers can bring the heat to the field, it’s fellow Austrian Johannes Lamparter who’s the one to beat. Lamparter enters these Games as the most consistent athlete with a nearly 50 percent success rate in landing on individual podiums in both large and normal hill contests. As a skilled ski jumper, Lamparter needs to rank highly in the ski jump section to remain competitive during the cross-country race.

Germany’s Vinzenz Geiger, the defending Olympic gold medalist in individual normal hill and the reigning overall World Cup champion, almost didn’t qualify for his country’s Olympic team. Geiger is widely known as one of the best Nordic combined skiers, but has only ranked 12th best in cross-country skiing this season after getting injured in November. Since each country is only allowed three quota spots, Geiger — who was the fourth-highest ranked German athlete on the World Cup standings at the time the team was chosen — would’ve been left off the Olympic team. Instead, the German team decided to include Geiger over Wendelin Thannheimer, the third-best German athlete.

Geiger’s teammate, Johannes Rydzek, won the individual large hill Olympic title at the PyeongChang Games in 2018. Like the Luraas Oftebro brothers, he’s stronger on the cross-country course and could be a serious medal contender.

Ben Loomis and Niklas Malacinski will be representing the United States.

See whether either brother duo can reign supreme when the ski jump segment of the men's normal hill contest begins at 3 a.m. ET, shortly followed by the 10km race at 7:45 a.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 11. It can be seen live on NBCOlympics.com and Peacock.