There’s new opposition to a proposal to add cross-country running and cyclocross to the Winter Games, including at Utah’s next Olympics in 2034.
The international federations over traditional Olympic winter sports — biathlon, bobsled and skeleton, hockey, luge, skating, ski and snowboard, and curling — are now warning the possible additions could hurt the Winter Games.
In what’s been dubbed a “Cold War” in sports, the Winter Olympic Federations issued a statement Wednesday against what they labeled a “piecemeal” proposal from World Athletics, the international federation for track and field.
“The Winter Olympic Federations are firm in our belief that such an approach would dilute the brand, heritage, and identity that make the Olympic Winter Games unique — a celebration of sports practiced on snow and ice, with distinct culture, athletes, and fields of play," they said.
Their statement expressed support for new IOC President Kirsty Coventry’s efforts to review “all aspects of the Olympic movement” through working groups that include one focusing on the Olympic program for Summer and Winter Games.
But they also said in the statement that “the future of the Olympic Winter Games is not better served by piecemeal proposals, such as the inclusion of Summer (international federation’s) non-Olympic disciplines into the Olympic Winter Games.”
Instead, Winter Olympic Federations President Ivo Ferriani cited the inclusion of ski mountaineering at the 2026 Winter Games in Milan-Cortina, Italy, as “a successful example” of focusing on “evolving existing winter sports to attract broader participation and audiences.”
World Athletics President Sebastian Coe, an IOC member, is part of the working group looking at the Olympic program, including whether there should be a potential rotation of future Winter Games among a set group of hosts.
Coe has said there are discussions underway to bring cross-country running back to the Olympics after an absence of more than a century as well as introduce cyclocross, a mix of road cycling, mountain biking and steeplechase.
Both events are being pitched for the 2030 Winter Games in the French Alps, as well as possibly the 2034 Winter Games in Utah as a way to involve athletes from places that traditionally don’t participate in winter sports, such as Africa.
The idea has been endorsed by U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee leaders, including CEO Sarah Hirshland, who recently talked about “pushing boundaries and doing things that have never been done before around the Winter Games” in 2034.
Utah’s Olympic organizers are waiting to see what the IOC does.
“Our role, as the host of the 2034 Games, is to follow the lead of the IOC in the sport program,” Fraser Bullock, president and executive chair of the Organizing Committee for the 2034 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, said.
Bullock said organizers “are very grateful for our partnerships with so many in the international sports movement.”
USA Cycling’s CEO, Brendan Quirk, recently told Cycling News there’s “a better than 50% chance” that cyclocross will debut at the 2030 Games, calling it “a massive priority” for both Coe and David Lappartient, head of the international cycling federation.
He said he’s hoping for a decision by the end of 2026.
“Could you imagine cyclocross, at the 2034 Salt Lake Olympics? Off the charts,” Quirk said. “The (international cycling federation) has consulted with us at USA Cycling in terms of how they’re thinking about Salt Lake 2034 and USA Cycling is wholeheartedly behind this idea.”