When you think of skiing, you probably picture going downhill. But the sport of skimo, short for ski mountaineering, involves going uphill, too. It’s the only new sport at the 2026 Winter Olympics.
Skimo is an emerging sport, with competitions mostly taking place in Europe. The first independent legal governing body overseeing it—the International Ski Mountaineering Federation—was founded in 2007.
There will be three skimo events at the Olympics: men’s and women’s sprint, and a mixed relay. The sprint competitions will take place on February 19. The mixed relay will happen on February 21.
The individual sprints have two parts: First, athletes climb a snowy mountain on skis. Then they race back down. During the ascent, athletes wear special skis with grippy “skins” on the bottom to prevent them from falling backward. For part of the climb, athletes remove their skis, mount them on their backpack, and forge ahead on foot. They climb a total of 230 feet. They then put their skis back on to race down the hill to the finish. Each sprint race takes two and a half to three minutes to complete.
During the sprint, “People are vying for position,” Sarah Cookler, head of sport for USA Skimo, told TIME. “There’s a lot of bumping elbows. There’s a lot of aggressive skiing, even on the uphill.”
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