Cross-country running could make its long-awaited return to the Olympic stage, but this time, in winter.
World Athletics president Sebastian Coe says there’s a “good chance” the sport will be added to the 2030 Winter Games, as part of what he called a “radical overhaul” of the Olympic program. The move would also include cyclocross, with both sports potentially sharing a course in the French Alps.
Coe, who is part of the International Olympic Committee’s Fit for the Future working group, said he believes the time is right for the Games to evolve.
“I’ve always wanted to see cross-country back in, for all sorts of reasons,” he said. “It’s an important part of the progression for endurance athletes. And it would give Africa a proper presence in the Winter Games, which, if we’re being honest, it doesn’t really have.”
For Coe, the argument isn’t just nostalgic.
Cross-country has long been the backbone of endurance training, a winter proving ground for many of the world’s best track and marathon runners. Yet the discipline has been missing from the Olympics since 1924, when the Paris course proved so brutal that more than half the field dropped out amid heat and fumes from a nearby power plant.
This time, the conditions would be decidedly colder.
The proposed 2030 course would run in winter terrain, likely shared with the UCI’s cyclocross event, a collaboration Coe said emerged from discussions with cycling federation president David Lappartient.
“David’s up for it, I’m up for it,” Coe said. “Obviously, the IOC has to agree. There’d have to be a variation in the charter, because it currently only includes snow and ice sports.”
The IOC’s new president, Kirsty Coventry, has reportedly shown openness to rethinking that definition. Coventry, a former Olympic swimmer from Zimbabwe, is leading a broader push to make the Games more relevant and inclusive, both in terms of geography and gender balance.
Coe suggested cross-country’s inclusion could align with that goal, creating new opportunities for athletes from nations with little access to snow or ice.
It would also mark one of the most significant crossovers between the Summer and Winter Games in history. The proposal even includes discussion of moving indoor sports like judo to the Winter Olympics, a step Coe said could help balance the seasonal calendar and open up broadcast opportunities.
“If you’ve got indoor facilities, you could certainly mix them up,” he said. “It’s going to take a different model, a different revenue split, but those things are on the table.”
The idea of expanding winter sports beyond snow and ice isn’t new. Advocates have long argued that winter sport can mean more than skiing and skating, especially in a world where global warming is already reshaping traditional venues.
If approved, cross-country’s return would not only end a century-long Olympic absence, it would also bring endurance running back to its roots.
Generations of greats, from Kenenisa Bekele to Jakob Ingebrigtsen, have built their careers on muddy cross-country courses before conquering the track. For Coe, that alone makes the sport worth fighting for.
“I think it’s come at the right moment,” he said. “Kirsty is prepared to think differently. And we need to, because the Games should reflect the world as it is, not just where the snow falls.”
