‘You kind of sprint up a mountain’: A look at ski mountaineering ahead of its Olympic debut

By Canadian Press on February 24, 2025.

BORMIO, Italy (AP) — Emily Harrop wasn’t fast enough going downhill on skis to get near the podium in Alpine skiing.

But she’s proving tough to beat going uphill.

The French athlete has earned the moniker “queen of ski mountaineering” after making the switch at the age of 20 and will be the favorite to win gold when the sport makes its Olympic debut at next year’s Milan-Cortina Games.

Harrop has won all four World Cup sprint races this season, the last of which came Saturday at an Olympic test event in Bormio, the venue for next year’s ski mountaineering — or skimo — events.

“It’s great to be able to come here a year before to test it out, it was really exciting for all of us,” Harrop said after her victory. “I think everyone had in their minds this year the test event, so I’m really glad to have gotten to the end of this day with a big confidence boost with this win.”

Harrop, who grew up in France to English parents, followed her win up with a second-place finish in Sunday’s mixed relay, alongside Thibault Anselmet.

The 27-year-old Harrop is a four-time world champion in relay and team events and has also won the overall and sprint World Cup titles in each of the past three seasons.

What is skimo?

Ski mountaineering makes athletes first go up the mountain, before coming back down.

“It’s kind of like you combine cross-country skiing with Alpine skiing. You kind of sprint up a mountain with your skis on, and then ski down a mini Alpine course,” said Cameron Smith of the United States.

In sprint races, the ascent is mostly made on specialized skis covered with so-called climbing skins — which improve traction against the snow — and partly made on foot in ski boots. Once the competitors reach the top of the course, they switch to downhill skiing to descend down the mountain again.

At the Olympics, 18 male and 18 female athletes will compete in individual sprint races and a mixed relay.

A sprint race normally only lasts about three minutes — a much shorter version of other ski mountaineering events such as vertical (uphill only) and individual races, which can last well over an hour but are not part of the Olympic program.

That means athletes have had to change their training routine to focus more on the action-packed Olympic formats.

“My training changed a lot because the races are short and we are doing a lot of gym, a lot of short intervals,” said Oriol Cardona Coll of Spain, who won the men’s sprint as well as the mixed relay with Ana Alonso Rodriguez. “We changed a lot the preparation and it worked.”

The course in Bormio will be at the foot of the iconic Stelvio slope, which will also host the men’s Alpine skiing events.

And, as one athlete summed it up, the setup involves a bit of everything: an ascent on skins from the start, followed by steps climbed on foot while carrying skis on the back, then another short ascent before taking off the skins and skiing 70 meters downhill, through raised banks and steep curves.

The mixed relay differs slightly in that there is another descent halfway through the longer course, which is raced twice — in alternating order — by each member of the team.

While the races are fast, the transitions where athletes have to take their skis or skins on and off means they have to be mentally focused as well as physically prepared.

“I tell people we just practice taking our skis on and off a lot,” said American Jessie Young, who finished 10th in the relay together with Smith.

Not proper ski mountaineering?

While the sprint is explosive and fun to watch, there are some that say it is not true ski mountaineering.

“I think the sprint is a really fun, really fast, spectator friendly event. It’s very different, it’s almost a different sport than some of the long ones,” U.S. racer David Sinclair said.

Many athletes in Bormio agreed that it differs greatly from the sport’s traditional epic Alpine climbing, but they feel it will serve as a good introduction to ski mountaineering.

“It’s like saying the 100 meters isn’t a real race. It’s true that when someone goes out running, they don’t only do 100 meters normally, but I think it’s the most followed event in the Summer Olympics,” Italy’s Nicolò Ernesto Canclini said. “Then there had to be this compromise for skimo to get into the Olympics. … Hopefully in the future there will be the more classic races too.”

When asked whether he prefers the sprint or the longer races, Canclini said: “My favorite is when I’m without a race number and I just go up into the mountains and stop at a rifugio (mountain lodge) for a nice beer, that’s the best ski mountaineering for me.”

Home hero

For Canclini, next year’s Olympics will be even more special as the races will be held on home snow.

Canclini, a two-time world champion, grew up in Bormio and lives about 300 meters from the slope.

“It’s a great emotion to be racing at home,” he said. “As a youngster I was an Alpine skier, so having seen all the greats race here on this slope, I dreamed of also racing here. Then I changed sport, and in the end I still got to race here.

“So it’s a great satisfaction and feeling.”

Canclini’s grandparents, parents and other family and friends were at the bottom the slope to cheer him on at the weekend.

Unfortunately, Canclini tripped during his ascent on foot in the qualifiers, losing about three seconds at the top as his skis became trapped in the strap holding them to his back. He failed to make it to the quarterfinals by less than a second.

“Everyone said to me, ‘better that it happened this year than next’,” Canclini said with a laugh. “But it would have been even better if it hadn’t happened at all.”

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AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/winter-olympics

Daniella Matar, The Associated Press

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