Nordic combined has been a core part of the Winter Olympic programme since the very first edition in Chamonix 1924, with a men’s individual event from the normal hill. A team event was added at Calgary 1988, and at the 2026 Olympics it will return in a new format - a team sprint - hosted at the Tesero Cross-Country Skiing Stadium and the Predazzo Ski Jumping Stadium in Val di Fiemme. The third and final event, the large hill individual, was introduced at Salt Lake City 2002.
To date, the only Italian athlete to have won a medal in this demanding discipline is Alessandro Pittin. At Vancouver 2010, he delivered a remarkable comeback after placing sixth in the ski jumping round. In the cross-country segment, he surged through the field over the 10 km course to claim a historic bronze, finishing behind France’s Jason Lamy Chappuis and the USA’s Johnny Spillane.