The event's organizational committee and the Estonian Ski Association decided to give up organizing the stage due to a recent hike in new daily cases of COVID-19, along with financial complications, which have accumulated over the summer and into the winter, mainly in the areas of TV production, sponsoring of the event and rising costs due to Covid-19 prevention measures.

"We, in the Estonian Ski Association are grateful to FIS for the opportunity to organise the Nordic Combined World Cup stage in Otepää on January 1-3 2021. We were ready to organise the World Cup competitions in Estonia and have already put large efforts in and made all possible preparations," Ago Markvardt, head of the organizational committee, said.

He continued: "This was not an easy decision for us, but due to the rising number of Covid-19 cases in Estonia and the additional stresses on the budget, we felt we had no choice."

Lasse Ottesen, the Nordic combined director for FIS, said: "It is of course a blow for us to lose Otepää, especially in our Women's World Cup premiere season. We will now focus all of our efforts on replacing the event and ensure a great debut season for our women, even if the Covid-19 situation does not make things easy this winter."

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