This year, for the first time in Olympic Games history, athletes from around the world will compete in ski mountaineering — “skimo.” There will be two events: the sprint and the mixed relay, both of which will include uphill and downhill portions.
If you are unfamiliar with skimo, don’t worry. While it’s growing quickly in popularity, it’s still a relatively obscure sport, largely dominated by Type-2 Fun personalities.
It is not a cool slang term for going skiing more often (i.e., ski mo’, not less). Instead, it’s a blend of backcountry and cross-country skiing, with a dash of mountaineering. The goal is to traverse alpine terrain on skis as quickly as possible.
Since this is skimo’s inaugural Olympic Games, we decided a little explainer was in order. After all, even for people familiar with skimo, the races that will be held in Milano-Cortina in February might look a little different than standard International Ski Mountaineering Federation (ISMF) competitions.
This guide provides everything you need to know about skimo ahead of the 2026 Winter Olympic Games: what it is, who is competing, how the races work, and when you can watch them.
Olympic Skimo: Everything You Need to Know
At its most basic level, skimo is a means of navigating alpine terrain in winter. Athletes prioritize using lightweight skis, boots, and poles. Brands like Dynafit and La Sportiva are skimo favorites.
Races like Colorado’s infamous Grand Traverse cover many miles, involving both uphill and downhill travel, and numerous transitions between the two. It’s all about efficiency, speed, and endurance.
Unlike traditional ski mountaineering, competitive skimo uses no ropes or other climbing equipment. The racing kit is usually minimalist, even down to the apparel.
Off the racecourse, the line between backcountry skiing and skimo can be fuzzy. Both use AT ski setups to gain elevation and descend. Generally speaking, though, backcountry skiers focus more on the descents — they want to make turns, and they want to find powder. Skimo skiers tend to be more focused on covering distance, making fast transitions between uphill and downhill modes, and quickly getting from point A to point B.
Skimo is one of the fastest-growing winter sports in the U.S. According to research published in Frontiers of Sports and Active Living, participation rates in skimo tripled between 2019 and 2023. The latest estimates indicate that there are over 2.2 million skimo skiers in the U.S. alone, and skimo-specific gear is expected to become a $11-billion market by 2032.
The first Skimo World Championships were held in France in 2002. However, it is fitting that skimo’s first Olympic Games will be in Italy, as the Italians have won numerous victories in global competitions over the years, and are one of the leading nations in the sport.
What Will Olympic Skimo Look Like?
The ISMF World Cup has five different skimo races: individual races, team races, sprint races, mixed relay races, and vertical races. However, only two of those will be featured at the Milano-Cortina Games, and the formats will differ slightly from those of most sanctioned ISMF ski races.
Here is how they’ll go.
Men’s & Women’s Sprints
The men’s and women’s sprints will have three stages. First, athletes race uphill on skis with their skins attached. Then there is a bootpacking section, at the end of which, skiers will transition to “downhill” mode. The last portion includes a descent and a final flat skate to the finish. The course elevation gain is roughly ~70 m (230 feet), according to the official skimo rules on the NBC Olympics website.
Eighteen sprinters will compete head-to-head in heats of six. The top three in the quarter finals, as well as the athletes with the next three fastest times, will advance to the semi-finals. From there, the top two athletes and the athletes with the next two best times will advance to the finals to compete for the gold. Athletes will compete in just one sprint per round.
Mixed Relay
Unlike the sprint, the mixed relay is a team event featuring one male and one female on each team. Each team must complete four loops along the course, all in the same order, woman-man-woman-man. The “handover” between laps is made by one teammate physically touching the other.
The mixed relay course includes roughly 140 m (460 feet) of elevation gain. It includes two ascents (one fully on skis, one bootpacking) and two descents. After the initial qualifying race, 12 (out of 18) teams will advance to the final relay round, where the winner will be determined.
Transition Rules
One of the defining traits of skimo races is fast transitions between uphill and downhill modes. In ISMF competitions (and in Milano-Cortina), the racecourses feature “transition zones” where athletes make this switch. They have to place their ski poles on the ground, rip their skins off their skis, and make any necessary binding adjustments before touching their poles and skiing off.
If at any point during the transition, the skier or their skis touch outside of the transition zone, a time penalty is applied.
Skimo Penalties
There are two types of penalties in skimo racing: Equipment violations and behavioral offenses.
Equipment violations can include, for example, not leaving your ski poles flat on the ground during a transition (as described above), which results in a 10-second penalty. They could also include using unsanctioned equipment or walking without crampons on the bootpack sections, both of which result in disqualification.
Behavioral offenses could include flasestarts (1-minute penalty), missing a gate on the descent (1-minute penalty), or pushing/shoving another athlete (disqualification if intentional, or a 15-second penalty if accidental).
Who Is Competing in Olympic Skimo?
The U.S. Olympic skimo team is composed of two athletes: Cam Smith from Colorado and Anna Gibson from Wyoming. Both have extensive experience competing in trail running and skimo.
Cam Smith
Smith competed in both the 2019 and 2025 World Championship skimo races. He moved from Illinois to Colorado in 2014 and started competing in skimo with his sister shortly thereafter.
He is a 13-time national ski mountaineering competitor, and holds course records for the Power of Four, the Grand Traverse, and the Gothic Mountain Tour — three of the largest Ski Mountaineering races in the U.S.
“This is for all the people who are behind us,” Smith wrote in an Instagram post about qualifying for the 2026 Games. “Truly. I didn’t want to go to the Olympics for myself anymore. I wanted to do it for all of you so that we could share the win TOGETHER.”
Anna Gibson
Raised in Jackson Hole, Wyo., Gibson has been competing in track, cross-country, and Nordic skiing since high school. In 2024, she made it to the 1,500m semifinals in the Olympic Qualifying track and field event.
In 2025, she competed on Team USA in the women’s uphill 6km at the World Mountain and Trail Running Championships, in which she took third place.
Smith recruited Gibson to the U.S. Skimo team ahead of the Skimo World Cup for her experience competing in endurance races. Together, they won the World Cup Mixed Relay event and qualified for the 2026 Milano-Cortina Winter Olympic Games.
“To the little girl who used to beg mom and dad to skin up the mountain before school,” Gibson wrote on Instagram. “You were right, skimo was in your blood. You didn’t have a clue where this was going (or that it was even going anywhere) — but I’m excited to tell you it all makes sense now. We’re going to Milano-Cortina!!”
How and When to Watch Olympic Skimo
The Olympic skimo events are among the last on the Olympic schedule. The men’s and women’s sprint races will be held locally in Cortina on February 19, starting at 9:50 a.m. Central European Time (CET), with the women’s sprint heats. The last race of the day will be the men’s sprint final starting at 12:55 p.m. (CET). The mixed relay event will be held 2 days later, on February 21, at 1:30 p.m. (CET).
For U.S. viewers, the skimo TV schedule is (USA network and streaming):
- Thursday 2/19
- Men’s/Women’s Sprints Heats: 3:45 a.m. EST (USA)
- Men’s/Women’s Springs Finals: 6:55 a.m. EST (USA)
- Saturday 2/21
- Mixed Team Relay 7:30 a.m. EST (USA)
- RE-AIR: Mixed Team Replay 8:00 p.m. EST (USA)
Both the sprint and relay races will take place in Bormio, Italy, a 3-hour drive north of Cortina. For the official schedule of skimo events, check out the NBC Olympics skimo webpage.
You can tune in to watch the events live on Peacock, NBC, or USA. Highlight reels and clips from the individual events will be posted to YouTube throughout the Games.
For the full Winter Olympics schedule of events, visit the official calendar webpage.
