It could happen: Cyclo-cross at the Olympic Games (on the same course as cross-country running?)

Sebastian Coe, president of World Athletics, said in The Guardian that there is a good chance that cyclo-cross, like cross-country running, will be added to the program for the 2030 Games. This would coincide with the appointment of Kirsty Coventry from Zimbabwe as the new IOC president, who is open to changes in the Olympic movement.

“I think there’s a good chance it’ll happen. And I think it’s come at the right moment, because Kirsty is certainly prepared to think differently about the programme,” said Coe, whose great rival during his time as an athlete was Steve Ovett, father of Mathieu van der Poel's friend Freddy Ovett.

According to Coe, there is a preliminary plan to have cyclo-cross and cross-country running take place on the same course in 2030. “It’s come out of a conversation I’ve had with David in cycling. And sharing the same course in 2030 with cyclocross is really where our thinking is going. We’ve already had good conversations,” said the Brit.

“David’s up for it. I’m up for it,” says Coe, who knows that something will have to change in the Olympic rules. These stipulate that Winter Olympic events must involve snow and/or ice, which is not always the case in cyclo-cross. “Obviously with the IOC there would have to be a variation in the charter, because it has to be with snow and ice, and there’s not been an obvious abundance of that recently.”

However, Coe is part of a working group appointed to implement changes. “Kirsty has asked a few of us to look at various aspects of turbo-charging some of this stuff,” said Coe. “And some quite big decisions have to be made next year.”

Those decisions—which will also be of great importance to cyclo-cross—will be made in February. Then, just before the Winter Olympics in Italy, the IOC will announce its intentions, and we will know for certain whether cyclo-cross will be included in the program for the 2030 Games.