Nordic combined athletes Ben Loomis and Niklas Malacinski have been named to the U.S. team for the 2026 Milan Cortina Olympics in February, U.S. Ski & Snowboard announced Jan. 22.

The roster was finalized following the closure of the Olympic qualification period Jan. 19. The International Ski and Snowboard Federation allocated quota spots to each country primarily based on athlete performances at the World Cup and Continental Cup competitions held since November 2025.

In previous Olympic years, each participating country could receive up to five quota spots for Nordic combined. That figure has been reduced for the 2026 Games, where a maximum of three men per country may compete. The United States qualified two.

“This is an extraordinary group of athletes. Every spot on this team reflects years of hard work and sacrifice, and being named to Team USA honors their goal of representing the United States on the Olympic stage," Anders Johnson, the program director for the U.S. ski jumping and Nordic combined team, said in a press release. They show up every day ready to work, challenge one another, and continue raising the standard. That mindset is exactly what it takes at the Olympic level, and this team is ready."

Loomis, 27, will make his third Olympic appearance in Milan Cortina. A longtime fixture of the U.S. Nordic combined scene, Loomis has been on the national team for 10 years. During his Olympic debut in 2018, Loomis placed 40th in the large hill/10km, 41st in the normal hill/10k, and 10th (of 10) in the team event. He improved significantly by 2022, landing 19th in the large hill/10km, 15th in the normal hill/10km, and 6th in the team event. 

Loomis enters the Olympics as the reigning national champion in the compact/large hill and as the World No. 41 overall. 

The 22-year-old Malacinski is one of the 48 Olympic rookies named to the various USSS teams. A 2024 national champion, Malacinski finished the 2023-24 (25th) and 2024-25 (26th) seasons as the top-ranked American man on the World Cup circuit, skiing to his career-best finish (13th) in November 2024. With four top-20 finishes through the first four World Cups this year, he is the only American man ranked inside the top 30 (29th).

The United States has not earned an Olympic medal of any color in Nordic combined since the 2010 Vancouver Games, where the country exploded for four podium finishes and snapped its 86-year medal drought in the sport. In the four years since Beijing, the American team has worked closely with longtime Winter Olympic giant Norway, sharing coaching staff and other training resources, and has seen significant improvement as a result.