What are the rules and appeal of skimo, an additional sport at the Winter Olympics?

Skimo, which is gaining attention as an additional sport at the 2026 Milan-Cortina Olympics (Italy),
may be a sport that many people have heard of but don't know what it is, or may be hearing about it for the first time. Its official name is Ski Mountanneering, and it's commonly abbreviated as Skimo.
Let's take a look at the sport's rules, rules, and appeal.

What is Skimo?

Skimo is a sport in which participants climb snowy mountains, ski down, and compete to see who can reach the finish line the fastest. It may be easier to understand if you think of it as a variation of the backcountry skiing that you normally enjoy, where participants compete for the fastest time from the top to the bottom. The courses for both the climb and skiing sections are marked by flag gates, and participants race through the snowy mountains in three different ways for each section: walking on skins, climbing with their skis on their backs, or skiing in alpine mode. The winner is determined by their overall skiing technique and physical strength

Events to be competed

The events are divided into the following four categories:

① Sprint
"short-term competition."
This is a fast-paced competition where competitors climb a slope with an elevation difference of about 70m using skis with skins attached, then remove their skis and walk uphill, followed by a ski descent, all within a course of about 3 to 3.5 minutes. The sprint is the event contested at the Milan-Cortina Olympics.

② Individual
"Snow Trail Running"
: This race primarily takes place off-piste, with a total elevation gain of 1300-1600m for men and 1150-1400m for women. The race time can range from 1 hour 15 minutes to 1 hour 30 minutes, making it a dynamic and spectacular event involving multiple ascents and descents of the mountain.

③ Vertical
: "Competing for the fastest ascent time."
As the name suggests, this competition focuses solely on the fastest time for climbing, with participants ascending a course with an elevation difference of approximately 500-700m in one go. The time taken is around 40 minutes.

④ Team
: "Relay race with teams of several people"
A competition where 2-3 people climb together. A longer course is set than in the individual race.

It's easier to understand by watching video of the actual competition. Let's take a look at the sprint competition at the All Japan Championships held at Unazuki Snow Park in January 2022

As you can see from the video, athletes are required to walk, put away their skins and skis, and even slide with refined movements in order to move forward even one second faster. If you look closely, you'll see that the athletes are carrying backpacks. These contain the equipment needed on snowy mountains, such as beacons, probes, and shovels. This is essential in line with the Skimo philosophy of skiing safely and as quickly as possible in the backcountry. There are also other detailed rules, such as penalties if skins stick out when storing them inside the ski gear, or if the zipper on the ski gear is not completely closed. This is because the premise of the competition is to ski down snowy mountains safely

Gear used in Skimo

To compete for speed, the equipment is also lightweight.
For example, the skis themselves weigh only 600-700g per foot, and the bindings weigh only about 100g. This lightness is achieved by using lightweight materials, but because of this, they can sometimes break while skiing.

The boots are not only thin overall, but the tongue section has also been simplified. Race boots are even lighter and the tongue section is eliminated altogether, and the price jumps accordingly.
The skins are also extremely short, and the skin clips on the tail side have been omitted. They are simply attached to the nose and left in place. This allows you to remove the skins while still wearing your skis, enabling a quick transition from touring mode to alpine mode. Observing Skimo's streamlined design and gear is one of the fascinating aspects of their products.

To close the gap with overseas

Skimo is a sport that originated in Italy. It is popular in Switzerland, France, and Italy, and has a large pool of athletes. The sprint events at the 2026 Milan-Cortina Olympics are scheduled to be contested by 18 athletes from around the world, both men and women, but the number of participants per country has not yet been determined. Due to the limited number of participants, there may be regional quotas for Asia, Europe, America, etc. In that case, neighboring China will be Japan's biggest rival

　In Japan, it is still a sport that has yet to develop. However, when Japan's ace athlete, Shima Tokutaro, competed for the first time in the World Cup held in France, he finished 52nd with a time of 3 minutes 17 seconds, compared to the top qualifying time of 2 minutes 46 seconds for the French athlete, Shima was 17 seconds away from the 30th place qualifying line of 3 minutes 00 seconds. Although there is still a gap in strength between Japan and the rest of the world, with continued training it is realistic that Japan could qualify in the near future, and this result showed a ray of hope

"The biggest difference between us and overseas athletes is power and skating technique," says Yukiyasu Matsuzawa, head coach of the Japanese national team. The sprint, an Olympic event, is contested over a short competition time, so endurance is of course important, but climbing speed, or power, is also an important factor. Also, overseas, there are increasing cases of athletes who originally mastered their techniques in alpine racing switching to Skimo. Athletes who not only have physical strength but also high-level skating technique will become an even greater threat. Overseas athletes have the advantage of having a long competitive history, and if they go to high-altitude mountains, there is snow, and they can practice a lot and do high-altitude training

It is undeniable that there is a gap between Japan and Europe in terms of both physical strength and skating technique due to differences in experience, training environment, and physical physique. So what does Japan need to do to improve its ranking?

"Japanese track and field is strong in relays. That's because they've practiced a lot and gotten good at passing the baton. In Skimo, too, although there is a difference in physique between us and overseas athletes, the part where we can definitely improve our times is the transition part where we switch running styles. I think Japanese people are good at the small details like shouldering and putting on skis and taking off the skins. Overseas athletes are fast, but this is an area where we can win if we focus on it. It's basic, but there is a lot we can teach Japanese athletes who are still inexperienced," says Matsuzawa

To gain the necessary experience and basic skills, the first ever training camp for the Japanese national team was held at Tsugaike Mountain Resort in Hakuba from December 16th to 18th. Our editorial team accompanied the camp for a day and discovered that Skimo is a much harder sport than we had imagined