Norway Wins Inaugural Men’s Nordic Combined Team Sprint

Jens Lurås Oftebro and Andreas Skoglund have given Norway gold in the inaugural men’s Nordic Combined team sprint at the 2026 Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics. The pair crossed the line in 41:18.0, holding off Finland’s Ilkka Herola and Eero Hirvonen by just half a second in a finish that needed a photo to separate them.

It completed a clean sweep of Nordic Combined events for Norway at these Games, with Oftebro picking up his third gold medal of the competition in the process.
The race was run under heavy snowfall at the Tesero Cross-country Skiing Stadium, and the conditions made life difficult for almost everyone on the course.

Late Drama at the Tesero Stadium

Germany’s Vinzenz Geiger fell late in the race and took out Japan’s Ryota Yamamoto in the process, ending any realistic chance of a medal for both teams. Norway stayed clean through every transition, skied tactically throughout, and kept just enough in reserve to control the final sprint when it mattered.

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Finland pushed them right to the line. Herola and Hirvonen were close enough to make it genuinely uncomfortable until the very last metres, and their silver was well earned. Austria’s Stefan Rettenegger and Johannes Lamparter took bronze, finishing 22.3 seconds back. Italy and Germany came fourth and fifth, both paying a price for the brutal conditions underfoot.

Oftebro held off Hirvonen in the final straight to seal it, which felt like a fitting way for this to end, given how the whole competition went for Norway. Three events, three golds. In Nordic Combined at these Games, they were simply in a different league.