BORMIO, Italy — If you woke up in the United States sometime Thursday morning and checked social media – we all do it first thing, ignoring the advice of health experts – and saw highlights of men and women seemingly sprinting uphill, then ascending a staircase and finally skiing down a mountain, no, you were not hallucinating.
That was your introduction to ski mountaineering – "skimo" to those in the know. And it was skimo’s introduction to the Olympics, with the men’s and women’s sprint races becoming the first new Olympic sport, officially, since 1998.
Two Americans were in the field, Anna Gibson and Cameron Smith.
"It’s super fun to be part of this historic moment and help introduce our sport to the world," Smith said.
OLYMPIC SCHEDULE: Here's the complete 2026 Winter Olympics competition schedule
