Frenzel, 34, who won his first Olympic title at Sochi 2014, told Blickpunkt Sport he was "extremely shocked" to hear recent discussion about removing the Nordic combined event from the Olympic programme after Milan Cortina 2026.

The International Ski and Snowboard Federation expressed its dismay last June that women’s Nordic combined, having been turned down for the Beijing 2022 Olympics, would not be accepted for Milan Cortina 2026.

Karl Stoss, chair of the International Olympic Committee's Olympic Programme Commission, said at the time there would need to be a "significant positive development" in the participation and audience for Nordic combined to replace an Olympic sport for the 2030 Winter Olympics.

Concerns centred around international representation after the 27 medals available in Nordic combined were won by only four countries at the past three editions of the Winter Olympics.

Frenzel, a four-time Olympian, will not extend his own career to 2026, but he says he will work to maintain his sport after his career adding "of course I want to keep fighting for it."

He said he found the current attitude to Nordic combined, which some have called boring, as "incomprehensible", adding: "Of course it has to have a certain show character, but tradition also plays an extremely important role."

Frenzel sees the youngsters "who are our basis" as being in danger of being lost, along with the future of the sport.

"It will certainly become a problem for Nordic combined," he said, maintaining it is now important that "former athletes are committed to this and I would like to do my part".