One of the six sports contested at the first Winter Games in 1924, Nordic combined combines ski jumping with a cross-country race. Athletes first compete in ski jumping, on a normal or large hill, and then race a cross-country course to determine the winner. 

There are three Nordic combined events at the Olympics: the individual Gundersen normal hill/10km race, the individual Gundersen large hill/10km and the large hill/2x7.5km race, which is a team event.  

Nordic combined will take place from Feb. 11 to Feb. 19 during the 2026 Milan Cortina Olympics. 

Because ski jumping and cross-country skiing are graded on two different scales (points vs. time), Nordic combined used a standardized conversion system to evaluate both events using the same scale, called the Gundersen method. 

The Gundersen method translates the points an athlete earns in ski jumping to time. After the ski jumping competition, an athlete’s jump points are converted into time penalties. In the two individual events, one point equals four seconds, while one point is equal to 1.33 seconds in the team event.

The winner of the ski jumping competition starts first in the cross-country race. The other athletes then start the race in a staggered format in order of the results from the ski jumping competition.

Typically, the first athlete to cross the finish line in the cross-country race is the competition’s overall winner.

Historically, Norway has dominated Nordic combined competitions. At the Olympics, the Scandinavian nation has claimed 35 total medals — almost twice as much as Germany’s runner-up total of 18. But the country’s prowess took a hit with the recent retirement of Norwegian Jarl Magnus Riiber, an 11-time world champion who has won five of the last seven World Cup season titles, and Jorgen Graabak, who leads the Olympic gold medal count in the sport with four. 

Germany’s Vinzenz Geiger and Julian Schmid now command the sport, placing first and fourth, respectively, at last year’s World Cup circuit. Johannes Lamparter of Austria, the third-most successful Olympic nation, placed third.

Nordic combined will take place across two venues during the 2026 Winter Olympics. 

The cross-country portion of the event will take place at the Fabio Canal cross-country and biathlon center. The venue is in the municipality of Tesero, in northern Italy.

Ski jumping for Nordic combined will be contested at the Ski Jumping Arena in Predazzo, a village in northern Italy.

Nordic combined at the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics will take place from Feb. 11 to Feb. 19, beginning with the individual normal hill/10k and ending with the team large hill/2x7.5km sprint.

See the full competition schedule below:

Stay tuned on the NBC Olympics schedule page for updates on how to watch.

All times are in EST.