Flags from all over the world waved at North America’s first ski mountaineering World Cup Saturday, Dec. 6, at Solitude Mountain Resort, where athletes from Canada and the United States were competing for a spot at the 2026 Olympic Games.
Ski mountaineering, nicknamed “skimo,” requires athletes to climb a mountain, then ski down it as fast as possible.
There’s only room for one North American relay pair at the 2026 Games, so the U.S. had to best Canada in the mixed relay finals.
Americans Cam Smith and Anna Gibson did just that Saturday. The two earned gold and finished a minute and a half ahead of Canada’s 6th-place team, securing the Olympic quota for North America.
However, the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee has not yet announced which athletes will head to Milano Cortina this winter.
Smith skied across the finish line and straight into a big hug with Gibson, over 50 seconds ahead of second-place Italy.
Smith is a standout in the U.S. skimo world, with 13 national championships to his name.
With a gold medal around his neck and a pink cowboy hat on his head, he told KPCW the relay requires a lot of trust with his racing partner.
“It’s just all about the trust and commitment to each other,” he said. “I’m racing hard for her because I know she’s doing the same for me, so the teamwork comes in that accountability.”
Smith, who’s from Crested Butte, Colorado, said securing the Olympic quota is a “dream” he’s proud to fulfill for Team USA.
“I’m just glad to carry the torch on behalf of all of our team and supporters and get the job done together,” he said. “It’s the ultimate gift I could give back to everyone that’s supported us.”
It was an emotional day for Gibson, too.
An accomplished trail runner who lives in Jackson, Wyoming, Gibson is new to skimo – Saturday was her first World Cup. She and her friends celebrated after the awards ceremony with a spontaneous dance party in the snow.
“I’m kind of having a ‘pinch me’ moment – it’s crazy,” she said.
Skimo is an intensely aerobic sport that requires athletes to skin up the mountain and ski down.
Relay teams are made up of one man and one woman, and the race involves four laps, two per person. Each lap includes two steep climbs and multiple “transitions,” where skiers must pause, take off their skis, and prepare as fast as they can for the next climb or descent. In total, the roughly 5K relay takes a little over half an hour for the top teams.
Florence Toth came from Alberta, Canada, to watch her daughter Kylie compete. Awaiting the relay finals, she told KPCW the transitions impress her most.
“I find the whole thing exhausting,” she said, laughing. “Just walking up the hill on the side tired me right out! I think the boot packing and the transitions are really amazing, how fast they are.”
She said she’s excited for skimo’s inaugural Olympics.
“You have to have a lot of talent and a lot of willpower to do this sport,” she said.
Family and friends came from Colorado to support American gold medalist Cam Smith. The whole group wore red, white and blue hats hand-knitted by Smith’s mother, Lisa Van Schoonenberg, who said she was nervous ahead of the finals.
“It’s been a bundle of nerves, but huge excitement,” she said before the race. “It was so great to see all the USA skiers do so well, and [I’m] just really excited for watching the finals.”
Cam Smith’s sister, Zoe Smith, said the group jumped in the car to make it to the race after their flights were delayed. She said she introduced her brother to the sport and is thrilled to see him succeeding.
“We’ve all known since April, when the World Cup standings were tied at the end of the season, that it was going to all come down to this race,” she said.
Overall, it was a successful weekend for Team USA’s relay athletes. Park City local Griffin Briley and partner Hali Hafeman won the “B” final, and another American duo, Jessie Young and John Gaston, came second in that race.
The Americans did not perform as well in the individual sprint races Sunday. No skiers made it past the quarter finals.
The Olympic skimo events will be Feb. 19 and 21.
