The United States has a short history in ski mountaineering, given that the sport predominantly is competitive in Europe. While the ISMF was founded in 2007, the U.S. did not have a male podium finisher at a senior World Cup race until 2022, when Cameron Smith achieved a podium finish in a vertical race in Andorra. Smith became the first North American man to earn a medal at an ISMF World Cup race.

Many of the top finishes at the international level for an American have come from Nina Silitch, who became the first North American to obtain a medal at a world championships, securing silver in 2013 in the women's sprint. Additionally, Silitch captured two ISMF World Cup medals, winning the sprint event in 2012 and 2013 in Norway. 

In August 2024, USA Skimo announced Project Podium, an initiative funded by donations to advance the U.S. ski mountaineering team with the ultimate goal of qualifying for future Winter Olympics. The project created important positions and infrastructure on the team to become competitive at the international level. 

One of the positions introduced with Project Podium was Head of Sport, a job with the responsibilities of carrying out the project and overseeing all levels of the U.S. ski mountaineering team. Sarah Cookler, a former ski mountaineering racer on the U.S. national team, was appointed Head of Sport simultaneously with the announcement of Project Podium.

One of Cookler's first responsibilities as Head of Sport was hiring the U.S. team's first head coach in program history. Oscar Angeloni, with two decades of experience coaching national skimo teams like China, Italy and Switzerland, was appointed head coach of the U.S. ski mountaineering team ahead of the Milan Cortina Games, hoping to lead the team to qualification in the sport's first Winter Olympic Games.

Cameron Smith is one of the most notable skimo athletes from the United States. Back in 2022, Smith became the first American man to reach the podium in an ISMF World Cup race with a third-place finish in the vertical race at Andorra. While Smith suffered a torn ACL and had shoulder surgery that kept him out of most races during the two seasons before the 2024-25 World Cup campaign, Smith finished inside the top 10 in multiple races this season, including 10th at the mixed relay Olympic test event in Bormio, Italy. At the 2025 U.S. National Championships, Smith finished runner-up in the sprint race to David Sinclair.

A winner of the mixed relay race with Smith at 2025 Nationals, Hali Hafeman is another potential candidate to represent the U.S. skimo team at the Milan Cortina Games. A relative newcomer to the sport who started skimo in 2022, Hafeman finished 10th in the B final of the mixed relay race at Bormio with U20 ski mountaineer Griffin Briley. In addition, Jessie Young, a 41-year-old veteran of the U.S. skimo team and winner of the women's sprint at nationals, is a potential contender for the U.S. qualification bid in the mixed relay.

The United States has not made a world championships podium in recent years, but has had success in the U20 category at the 2025 World Championships. Griffin Briley, a 19-year-old member of the U.S. skimo team, had the best finish at a world championships, winning three U20 gold medals in the men's vertical, sprint and individual races, with a bronze in the mixed relay. In the U18 category, American Sienna Petersen finished with a bronze medal in the women's sprint.

One of the U.S. skimo team's best senior finishes came during the 2019 Ski Mountaineering World Championships, when Jessie Young finished 13th in the women's individual race. At the 2017 World Championships, Young and Janelle Smiley finished fourth in the team race, 10 minutes faster than the fifth-place finisher. For men's racers, John Gaston once finished 12th in the individual race at the 2019 World Championships.

Nina Silitch still holds the best finish for an American at a world championships (silver in the 2013 sprint race) or World Cup race (two wins in the sprint race). 

Griffin Briley continues to turn heads on the international level for the U.S. skimo team. Taking home three wins and four total medals at the 2025 World Championships, Briley has found much success at the U20 and U18 level, with six total wins between youth World Cup and world championships events.

Briley began racing in senior races over the last few years in his ski mountaineering career. Racing with Hali Hafeman, the 19-year-old finished No. 13 in the mixed relay qualification race in his last race of the 2024-25 season at the ISMF World Cup.

With no recent podiums in the sprint or mixed relay at a World Cup or world championships, medal chances for the U.S. ski mountaineering team at the 2026 Milan Cortina Games are slim. The United States currently has not qualified for the Milan Cortina Games and only can qualify for the mixed relay race. While chances of earning medals are low, USA Skimo's Project Podium aims to boost the U.S. skimo team's odds for qualification and international podiums for many years to come beyond the 2026 Winter Olympics.

With only one qualification event remaining in the first ISMF World Cup race of the 2024-25 season at Solitude, the U.S. has two realistic ways of qualifying for the mixed relay race at the 2026 Milan Cortina Games.

Scenario A

The U.S. team can obtain a quota place via D.3 of the ISMF qualification system, which is a continental quota. For continents that do not have a National Olympic Committee (NOC) earning qualification from D.1 (host nation) or D.2 (top-two teams from the ISMF World Championships) can earn one quota place in the mixed relay and earn a spot at the 2026 Milan Cortina Games. As it stands via the Olympic Mixed Relay Ranking List, the United States is one place behind Canada, which currently holds the D.3 quota. At the last qualification race in Solitude:

• If Canada is at least one place ahead of the United States, the quota place remains with Canada
• If the United States places one position ahead of Canada, the quota will switch to the U.S.
• Only in the situation that the U.S. is 16th and Canada is 17th on the OMRRL (or higher, with a one-place difference only), the tie rule will apply, calculating the time points of the best five results

Scenario B

The less likely of the two scenarios, the second NOC from the Americas to obtain a quota place by D.4. qualification (remaining ranked NOCs that have not yet qualified from D.1, D.2 or D.3 qualification) is 17 points (No. 8 = USA with 229 points) behind the last NOC obtaining a quota place (No. 6 = Poland with 246 points). The U.S. would have to overtake both Poland and Sweden (currently No. 7 in D.4 qualification) in the ranking list for this instance of qualification. There is a point difference of 17 points on the OMRRL.

The qualification period for Olympic ski mountaineering is from Nov. 1, 2024, to Dec. 21, 2025. 

There is one last qualification event where the U.S. ski mountaineering team can earn points to attempt to qualify for the D.3 or D.4 qualification slot. Coincidentally, the event comes on home soil in the first ISMF World Cup race of the 2024-25 season at Solitude Ski Resort in Brighton, Utah from Dec. 6-7.