What are the official rules for Olympic ski mountaineering?
A Ski mountaineering race consists of three elements: a race course with ascents on skis with skins for traction, on-foot sections where skiers place their skis on their backs and ascend on their ski boots, and descent sections where skiers remove the skins from their skis and complete a downhill section of skiing similar to an Alpine skiing race.
There are four disciplines of ski mountaineering at the ISMF World Cup level: individual, team, mixed relay and vertical. Only two disciplines (sprint and mixed relay) are competitions at the sport’s inaugural Olympics at the 2026 Milan Cortina Games.
Sprint race
There will be a men’s and women’s ski mountaineering sprint race at the Milan Cortina Games, each consisting of three parts: a heat round, a semifinal round and a final round. 18 athletes each qualify for the men’s and women’s sprint race, which is broken up into three heats of six athletes. The top-three athletes from each heat, plus the three fastest athletes not already qualified from the combined heat rankings, advance to the semifinal round, which consists of two races of six athletes each. The top-two athletes from each semifinal and the fastest two athletes from the combined semifinals who have not yet qualified make up the six athletes in the final race.
There are four phases in a standard sprint race:
- Ascent (A) – skiing uphill with skins on skis
- Foot part (B) – athletes remove their skis and complete a bootpack section on foot, then another short ascent on skins
- Transition (C) athletes remove the skins off their skis and prepare for the downhill section
- Descent (D) – skiing downhill with turns and gates (almost a rugged giant slalom)
Athletes complete the course one time through. The fastest athlete to complete the course wins.
Mixed Relay
The mixed relay event has one race at the Milan Cortina Games. Each team consists of one woman and one man, with athletes completing four laps of the course, two laps by the woman and two laps by the man. All teams use the same order: woman-man-woman-man. The course for the mixed relay is longer than in the sprint, containing two ascent and descent sections. The bootpack section is featured in the second ascent.
The mixed relay race contains a section exclusive to the discipline called the handover area, where athletes must alternate with their partner between laps to continue their team’s race time. Handovers only can take place within the specific area and done by touching with the hand of the predecessor any part of the body (except the ski poles), including the backpack of the successor. The skis of both athletes must be within the handover area for a legal switch. The athlete finishing the lap is forbidden from crossing the exit line of the handover area and must leave the area within 10 seconds via an exit area. For safety reasons, there is a small ascent before the handover area.