Ski mountaineering made its long-awaited Winter Olympic debut at the 2026 Milan Cortina Games. 

Set at the Stelvio Ski Centre in Bormio, the site of the men's Alpine skiing events, SkiMo’s top athletes participated in lung-searing, quad-burning sprint and mixed relay races. 

Both disciplines featured aspects of skinning (uphill skiing), cross-country skiing, boot-packing and downhill skiing, separated by pit-stop “esque” transitions. 

European countries with long histories in SkiMo, like France and Spain, flashed their dominance, while the United States exceeded expectations across the board.

Here’s how the Olympic debut of SkiMo unfolded.

It was absolutely dumping snow on the day of the men's and women’s sprints, worsening visibility, impacting transitions and making the stair portion of the race more slippery — as evidenced by the number of athletes who stumbled.  

Each sprint consisted of three rounds: the heats, semifinals and finals. There were three heats of six athletes, so 18 total per gender. The top three from each heat, plus the three fastest competitors not already qualified from the heats (AKA the “lucky losers”), advanced to the semifinals, which consisted of two races with six athletes each. 

The top two athletes from each semifinal and the fastest two athletes that did not automatically qualify reached the final for one last race. The three who crossed the finish line first were the medal winners.

Meanwhile, the mixed relay featured 12 teams of two athletes (one man and one woman). Each participant completed two course loops in alternating fashion — women-man-woman-man — and each loop contained an ascent and descent, as well as two transitions.

After the descent and second transition occurred, a competitor tagged in their teammate in the “handover zone,” and that teammate completed the same course loop. The cycle was repeated, and the squad with the fastest time emerged victorious.

The staircase and diamond obstacle course ascents were standout sections of both the sprints and the relay, while the “jump and rip” and skin reapplication transitions presented the most challenges.

The unofficial rulers of the SkiMo universe are France, Spain and Switzerland. The three nations flexed their undeniable power at the 2026 Winter Olympics, collecting multiple medals each.

It started with Marianne Fatton (SUI), who will forever hold the distinction of first person to win a gold medal in ski mountaineering at the Winter Olympics. The 30-year-old outlasted and outraced 17 other competitors to emerge victorious in the women’s sprint as snow fell on the Bormio course.

In the mixed relay, Fatton followed up her golden effort with a silver, as she and partner Jon Kister snagged a runner-up finish.

Oriol Cardona Coll etched his name in history, becoming the first man to win gold in a SkiMo event at the Winter Olympics, which he did in the sprint. In the process, he snapped Spain's 54-year gold medal drought in Winter Games competition.

He doubled up on the hardware in the mixed relay, teaming with Ana Alonso Rodriguez (ESP) to bring home the bronze. Alonso Rodriguez, who also secured bronze in the sprint, put together a remarkable pair of Olympic races, especially considering that she tore her ACL and MCL, fractured her ankle and separated her shoulder when she was hit by a car in October 2025. She held off on getting surgery for a shot at participating in Bormio. Now she's a two-time Olympic medalist.

Finally, Emily Harrop and Thibault Anselmet, the two French standout ski mountaineers, claimed two medals apiece. Harrop, widely considered the world’s best female SkiMo’er, took silver in the sprint, while Anselmet grabbed bronze. Together, they won gold in the mixed relay.

In December, the United States had one final opportunity to clinch a Winter Olympic berth in ski mountaineering. Cam Smith and Anna Gibson didn’t waste it.

The pair won the first-ever SkiMo World Cup event to take place on American snow. Not only that, it was the first ski mountaineering Cup event that the U.S. won in the history of the sport — a sport that is still relatively young in the country.

The U.S. were longer than longshots heading into the Games, especially when considering that Gibson had only picked up competitive SkiMo seven months prior.

Still, she and Smith managed to claim 4th (out of 12) in the mixed relay event, finishing most notably ahead of powerhouse Italy on home snow. They also placed 9th and 11th (out of 18) respectively in the women’s and men’s sprints, both advancing to the semifinals.

"I’ve got to be the happiest 4th place finisher the Olympics has ever seen," Gibson posted on social media afterwards. "That was the time of my life!!!!!"

The dynamic duo weren’t supposed to contend for a podium at the Games, and yet, they were in the mix with the top ski mountaineers in the world. The United States’ SkiMo journey has only just begun.