Ahead of the Olympics, Lisa Hirner rejects switch to ski jumping

Austrian Nordic combined standout Lisa Hirner has decided to stay in Nordic combined for the coming Olympic season. Although women’s Nordic combined will not be on the program at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan-Cortina—and Austria’s women’s ski jumping team has lost three leading athletes—Hirner has ruled out a full switch of disciplines. “I’m staying 100 percent on the combined track,” she told APA, adding that she still has a potential back door to the Olympics.

At the end of September, at the request of the Austrian Ski Federation (ÖSV), Hirner competed in the Intercontinental Cup for women’s special jumpers in Hinterzarten, Germany. She impressed immediately with a victory and a fourth place, collecting enough FIS points to qualify to start in top-tier women’s ski jumping. That keeps open the possibility of earning an Olympic berth via an internal ÖSV qualification. “If I can somehow qualify and get the chance to be there, I would certainly love to go. But I am and will remain a combined athlete,” she said. She noted there is no clash with her Nordic combined schedule, as there are no combined competitions during the Olympic period.

Austria’s women’s ski jumping squad heads into the Olympic winter significantly weakened after Eva Pinkelnig’s ACL injury and the retirements of Jacqueline Seifriedsberger and Sara Marita Kramer. Even so, Hirner said there are still enough specialist jumpers in contention for Olympic spots, naming Lisa Eder as well as Julia Mühlbacher, Chiara Kreuzer, and Hannah Wiegele as candidates. In Italy, women will compete for medals in two individual events and the mixed team.

Hirner lamented that women’s Nordic combined remains outside the Olympic rings, with the sport’s Olympic future to be decided next year. Calling the situation “very bitter,” especially amid talk of equality, she said efforts are ongoing to bring women’s combined into the 2030 Winter Games in the French Alps. “I would definitely like to go to the Olympics at least once in my life,” she added.

By contrast, Norway’s long-time World Cup dominator Gyda Westvold-Hansen has already committed to switching to special jumping—a move made easier by her strength on the hill. For Hirner, that path is “not an option at all” right now; she will focus on the World Cup. “I’m in good shape, and just because Gyda is no longer there doesn’t make it any less exciting,” she said.

Hirner also provided a health update after being set back for much of last season by Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, a diagnosis she only received in February. She said she now feels well and that her values are in the normal range: “I don’t notice any limitation in my performance.”