What Exactly Is Skimo? Everything You Need to Know About the New Olympic Sport

Another Olympics, another sport to pique our curiosity. The Games seem to be perpetually expanding. On the wintry end of things, curling returned as a medal event, after a 74-year hiatus, at the 1998 Nagano Games, which also marked the debut of snowboarding. Slopestyle and halfpipe freeskiing were added to the program in 2014, in Sochi. And for the 2026 Milano Cortina Olympics, say hello to ski mountaineering, or “skimo,” the only new sport at this year’s Games. 

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Here’s what to know about skimo.    

What is skimo?

Ski mountaineering combines the rigors of ascending a snowy mountain on skis, with the speed and technical skill required to come back down said mountain—also on skis—faster than your opponents. It’s an emerging sport, with competitions mostly taking place throughout Europe. While the need to navigate snowy, hilly terrains has been around since prehistoric times, and recreational backcountry skiing started gaining popularity in the 19th century, the first independent legal governing body overseeing skimo—the International Ski Mountaineering Federation—was founded in 2007.

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How does the Olympic competition work?

First thing to know: skimo is a race! So it fundamentally should be easy to follow, with ample opportunity for drama. No subjective judging and confusing scores. No solitary timed runs that can bore the audience, like in alpine skiing and long-track speedskating. 

There will be three skimo events at the Olympics. On Feb. 19, the Stelvio Ski Centre in Bormio will host the men’s and women’s sprint competitions. Each field consists of 18 athletes, who race each other in three heats of six: the top three athletes from each heat, plus the three fastest competitors who didn’t automatically advance, move on to the semifinals. In the two semis—also consisting of six athletes in each—the top two of each race, plus the two fastest “lucky losers,” make it to the six-person final

“People are vying for position,” says Sarah Cookler, head of sport for USA Skimo. “There’s a lot of bumping elbows. There’s a lot of aggressive skiing, even on the uphill.”

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Sprinters have to race up the mountain and then back down. They start off wearing skis with grippy “skins” on the bottom to prevent them from falling backward as they ascend. Then for a portion of the climb, the athletes remove their skis, stick them on their backpack, and keep going on foot. They put their skis back on to complete the uphill. The ascent is a total of 230 feet. 

Before the descent, Olympians enter a designated transition area to remove the skins from their skis and tinker with equipment for the downhill. If skiers stray too far out of the zone, they face a penalty. “Most backcountry skiers get to the top of the mountain and sit down, have a cup of tea, eat a snack,” says Cookler. “Ten minutes later, they take their stuff off. These athletes are doing this hypoxic, in less than six seconds, then race down the hill on a set course.”

Skiers must hit gates on the descent to avoid further penalties. First to the finish wins. Each sprint race takes about two and a half to three minutes to complete. 

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A mixed relay will take place on Feb. 21, the penultimate day of Olympic competition. Twelve teams, from 12 different countries, participate, each with a female competitor and a male competitor. The race is on a longer course than the sprints, with two ascents and two descents. The athlete uses the skis with skins the whole time on the first uphill section but only for part of the second ascent. Each member of the relay team takes two laps on the course, in alternating order: the woman starts the race, then tags the man for the second lap. Then the cycle repeats. The mixed relay takes about a half hour to complete. 

Who are the favorites?

Cookler says athletes from France, Switzerland, and Spain are the ones to watch. On the women’s sprint side, Emily Harrop of France should be a contender, and Marianne Fatton from Switzerland is the reigning world champion. Oriol Cardona Coll of Spain, Thibault Anselmet of France, and Jon Kistler of Switzerland are threats in the men’s race. Harrop and Anselmet teamed to win the mixed relay at worlds in March. 

Are there any American athletes competing?

At a last-chance qualifier in December in Utah, the American team of Anna Gibson and Cameron Smith had to finish ahead of Canada in the mixed-relay event to clinch American spots at the Games. Gibson and Smith did one better: they became the first Americans to ever win a mixed-relay skimo World Cup race. (Canada finished in sixth.) Smith has been racing since 2014 and is an 11-time U.S. Ski Mountaineering national champion. Gibson, a professional mountain runner from Wyoming, was making her World Cup debut. One race. One trip to the Olympics. Not bad for a rookie.

“We’re not a top-three team on paper,” says Smith. “But we’ve showed that we can shock the world.”