What you need to know about the newest Olympic sport

“It offers the perfect combination of grueling climbs and exhilarating descents,” explains Tatjana Paller.

The 30-year-old German finished fourth in the Olympic sprint and will also compete in the mixed team event of ski mountaineering, or” skimo” for short.

Last year, Paller won bronze in the sprint at the World Championships in Morgins, Switzerland. She has been a ski mountaineer since 2020; before that, she was a successful junior track cyclist.

Paller believes there are similarities between the two sports.

“Endurance sports are endurance sports. You either have a motor, or you don’t. But ski mountaineering is even more strenuous. At least you’re sitting down when you’re cycling,” says Paller.

Ski touring

Skimo is the competitive version of ski touring, which is becoming increasingly popular in the European Alps due to skyrocketing lift ticket prices. The German Alpine Club (DAV), Germany’s national mountaineering association, estimates the number of ski tourers in Germany alone at more than 600,000, which is more than three times as many as at the turn of the millennium.

On a classic ski tour in the mountains, you don’t use a lift but ascend on skis and then ski down ungroomed slopes. However, many now also ascend along the edge of actual ski slopes and then ski down them.

Special bindings, climbing skins under the skis

The skis are equipped with special bindings that allow you to lift your heels while ascending. For the descent, the heels can be locked in place using the bindings, just like on regular downhill skis.

To prevent the skis from slipping back while ascending, climbing skins made of synthetic or natural fibers are attached to them. These are either glued on or adhere to the skis on their own. Once you reach the top, you remove the skins and can ski down the hill.

There are now also so-called hybrid skins. They hold almost as well as glued-on skins but are as easy to attach as self-adhering skins.

“I use hybrid skins for the sprint and mixed relay because you can peel them off quickly,” Paller explains.

The procedure only takes a few seconds.

Light, narrow skis

The skis, which are carried on the skiier’s back during a mandatory foot climb, weigh between 700 and 800 grams (24.7 – 28.2 ounces), making them extremely light. They are also wider than cross-country skis but narrower than normal downhill skis: around 6.5 centimeters wide (2.6 inches) in the middle. The minimum ski length is 1.50 meters (4′ 11″) for women and 1.60 meters for men.

In the sprint in Bormio, a 610-meter course awaits the athletes, with a 70-meter elevation gain. The race is divided into:

• The ascent on skis

• A carrying section where the athletes, with their skis on their backs, must climb a set of stairs

• Another short ascent phase

•The final descent, where the gates are spaced approximately the same distance apart as in a giant slalom race

Speed ​​and tactics

The transition phases are crucial, where every second counts. One lap lasts between 2:30 and 3:30 minutes. Six athletes compete against each other in each heat. The two fastest advance to the next round.

In the mixed relay, one female and one male athlete per team alternate, completing two laps each. Here, it’s not just about speed, but also about the right tactics and good teamwork.

“We push each other really well,” says Tatjana Paller, who competes in the relay with 23-year-old Finn Hösch. They are both good individual athletes, adds Hösch.

“But it’s a different kind of pressure when you know you’re influencing not just your own result, but the team’s overall performance.”

First World Championships in 2002

The sport’s roots go back more than 100 years. One of its forerunners was the so-called military patrol, which made its Olympic debut at the first Winter Olympics in Chamonix in 1924. In this event, teams of four—in uniform and with gear in backpacks—had to complete a 30-kilometer (18.6 miles) course with considerable inclines on skis and then shoot at targets—similar to the biathlon.

Skimo in its modern form, however, is still relatively young. The first World Championships were held in 2002, and the World Cup premiered in 2004.

Distance competitions not yet Olympic

Skimo comprises of four disciplines, but medals will only be awarded in the two fastest this week in Bormio: the women’s and men’s sprints on Thursday, and the mixed relay on Saturday.

The other two disciplines are not yet Olympic: the so-called individual, with up to 1,900 meters of elevation gain, the longest competition distance, and the vertical, which consists of just one long ascent and no descent.

“The original form of ski mountaineering is the longer one. That’s why I can understand everyone who misses distance competitions in the Olympic program,” says sprint specialist Paller.

“But for us, it was a stroke of luck that the sprint competitions were chosen.”

Whether skimo will also be an Olympic sport at the next Winter Games in 2030 in the French Alps is not yet clear, but it does seem likely, given the current boom in ski touring.

This article was originally published in German.