Almost 40 men and women geared up for the debut of Olympic ski mountaineering, or skimo, in Bormio, Italy.
Skiers first climb or “skin” up a hill on skis, transition to hike and then click back into their skis to climb to the top. From there the athletes remove the skins and ski down to the finish line.
Two Americans competed in Wednesday’s sprint, including Cameron Smith, who finished fourth in his heat and just missed the finals.
“It was amazing to be able to race twice and experience that course and that energy two times and share that with all the people out there,” Smith told KPCW. “That's everything I could have dreamed of for today, especially since the sprint is not my strongest event.”
The 29-year-old from Crested Butte, Colorado, was the first American man to reach a skimo podium in 2022 and became a two-time world cup podium finisher after a race at Solitude in December 2025.
Oriol Cardona Coll, 31, from Spain earned the men’s first-ever Olympic gold in skimo and ended the country’s 54-year gold medal drought at a Winter Games.
On the women’s side, Wyoming’s Anna Gibson, 26, made the semifinal but fell short of the top three to compete for a medal.
“I came into this with no expectations, and was the lowest ranked because I have not done very much of this, and it was incredible just to know that there was no ceiling, and that anything I did was basically going to be better than the way that I came in,” Gibson told KPCW. “So it was incredible to race my way into the semis by surprise and then compete as hard as I could there and end up with a top 10 finish.”
Switzerland’s Marianne Fatton took gold on the women’s side.
Gibson made her world cup debut at Solitude when she teamed up with Smith in the mixed relay to qualify for the 2026 Olympics.
The pair reunites Saturday for the mixed relay event.
