by Simon Zink October 28, 2024 12 min read
In case you hadn't heard, skimo is making its Olympic debut in Milan/Cortina 2026 (MICO). Two disciplines, sprint and the mixed gender relay, will be showcased next winter on the biggest stage. The Olympics are a big deal for a multitude of reasons. For many athletes, its a long term goal that has been a benchmark in their training for years and years. For the sports themselves, it is often the one time that the they are exposed to the world beyond the niche communities they function in. The following is a breakdown of what skimo racing will look like at the Olympics, what is on the line this 2024-2025 season in relation to qualification, and who from the USA may get the chance to swing some carbon fiber around in their hopefully not so ugly race suits* in MICO 2026.
To be perfectly clear, I am a professional cross country skier. This is my interpretation and commentary of what ISMF has released in regards to Skimo's Olympic debut, from a cross country skier's perspective. I have experienced numerous Olympic cycles in my career, chased criteria myself, and have witnessed the politics and challenges that come with it. That being said, this is all brand new and obviously not cross country skiing. I did my best to consolidate the available information, while adding my insight particularly regarding the new skimo sprint format that was drawn directly from the FIS Cross Country World Cup.
A quick refresher on the two Olympic Skimo race formats, courtesy of the ISMF rules and guidelines 2024-2025, regurgitated by yours truly. Note these formats have been slightly retrofitted from their typical look on the World Cup for the Olympics.
Mixed Gender Relay Discipline:
This race format is a two person (one male, one female), relay competition covering 4 loops total on a 7-10 minute course. Each loop contains two ascents and descents, inlcuding a bootpack on the second ascent. Teammates alternate completing loops, with the order, W-M-W-M or M-W-M-W determined by the race jury. Teams complete a qualifying race where the top 12 advance to contest the format again in a final that determines the winner. On the World Cup, each country may qualify a maximum of two teams to the final.
At the Olympics, 18 teams will toe the line and there will only be a final. Countries who have attained the maximum quota places of four (two men and two women) will still only be able to field a single team to compete for the medals. The order has also been predetermined as W-M-W-M.
Sprint Discipline:
The sprint race is a short-format event consisting of a skin section, a booting section, another short skin section, a clearly marked gate descent, and finally a flat or slightly uphill finishing chute. Racers perform an individual timed qualifier, with the top 30 advancing to the rounds where heats of 6 athletes race head to head. The ISMF is very clear that this format is drawn directly from cross country skiing.
The Sprint for both the men and the women at the Olympics will not have a qualifying phase. All 18 starters in each race will contest the 6 person heats. The top three in each of the three quarter finals, plus the athletes with the next three fastest times (we call them lucky losers) will advance to the semi finals. The top two in each semi final, plus two lucky losers, will advance to the final to sort out the medals.
In cross country skiing, it is typical for the lucky losers to all come out of the same heat due to tactics. Since the Olympics are taking 3 luckly losers in the quarter finals, we could be presented with an interesting scenario where all 6 athletes qualify (three automatic, and three lucky losers) from a single quarter into the semis, with only two moving on from each of the other quarters.
Inside a skimo sprint. This fires me up!
If you caught the vagueness in the requirements and descriptions of these formats, don't worry you aren't alone. I was practically peeing myself reading the official document, laughing at how loose the language is. I love it, because in my opinion it represents the sport. It's raw and unrefined. Just watch a skimo racer skin uphill. Hilarious. But to me it's this rawness and newness that is so exciting, and presents the opportunity to be part of the growth of a sport. I believe there is a ton of room for innovation when it comes to technique, training, race tactics, and equipment in the sport of skimo.
There is no established framework of what works and what doesn't. There will be crashes. There will be moments of power and speed. There will be innovation, like perhaps me attempting to perform an entire sprint without skins on (this is perfectly legal), and there will be moments of comedy and chaos... Like me attempting to perform an entire sprint without skins on. We have the opportunity to watch and participate in the evolution of a sport every time athletes toe the line. That's pretty cool!
We know what race formats are going to be showcased, but who will compete in them? And how does one qualify? If you've ever examined or pursued Olympic criteria for any sport, then you are well aware how confusing and political this process becomes. There are three critical components deciding how many and which American skimoers will make the trip to Cortina: Olympic Eligibility, Olympic Quotas, and finally Olympic Selection:
Nobody will be strapping into any carbon fiber unless they have met one of the three performance criteria:
A. At least one finish in the top 80% of a sprint or mixed relay race on the World Cup during the qualification period (Nov 1, 2024 - Dec 25, 2025).
B. At least two finishes in the top 90% of a sprint or mixed relay race on the World Cup during the qualification period.
C. Finished in the top 6 in any sprint or mixed relay competition in the U18 ISMF Youth World Cup during the qualification period, or at the U18 ISMF World Championships 2025. Obviously, you need to be under the age of 18 to meet this criteria.
This isn't stringent. If you were to apply it to last year's World Cup Season we would have 12 different athletes meeting the eligibility (all from standards A and B).
Olympic quotas are the number of starts spots per gender, that an NOC (National Olympic Committee, in our case the USOPC) is given. These will be allocated by the IOC (International Olympic Committee) to the NOC's (and the countries they represent) based upon the following totals and allocation procedure calculated over the Olympic Qualifying period from Nov 1, 2024 to Dec 25, 2025:
A male quota place gives an NOC a start right to the men's sprint, a female quota place gives an NOC a start right to the women's sprint, and an NOC needs one quota place in each gender to have a team start in the mixed gender relay.
Quota Totals:
Quota Places | |
Men | 18 |
Women | 18 |
Total | 36 |
NOC Totals:
Quota Places per NOC | |
Men | 2 |
Women | 2 |
Total | 4 |
If an NOC is allocated the maximum two quota places per gender, they are still restricted to fielding a single team in the mixed gender relay, but can have two athletes competing in each the men's and women's sprints.
A maximum of one quota place per gender will be allocated per NOC according to 1-4:
NOC's may be allocated up to the maximum number of quota places (two per gender) according to 1 and 2:
Confusing I know. To simplify, each NOC can have up to two starts in the men's sprint, women's sprint, and one start in mixed gender relay (one team). The first quota allocation per gender is weighted mostly on mixed gender relay performance at the World Cup (1-5), and makes up 65% of the quotas being allocated. The second potential quota per gender is based on World Cup Sprint performance, and makes up 35% of the possible quotas. As a result, only a few of the strongest countries will be allocated a second quota spot per gender.
So what is the pathway for USA?
To help gauge where the USA sits on the world stage and subsequently in gaining start rights, I simulated an allocation utilizing the overall sprint and mixed gender relay ranking from the 2023-2024 World Cup. For the predicted winners at the 2025 World Champs, I substituted in the 2023-2024 overall World Cup leaders. Here are the results:
Allocation | Country and running total of quota (male, female) |
Host | Italy (1, 1) |
World Champs Relay | France (1, 1), Spain*(1, 1) |
Continental | Japan (1, 1), USA (1, 1), Australia (1, 1) |
OMRRL |
Austria (1, 1), Switzerland (1, 1), Germany (1, 1), Slovakia (1,1), Poland(1,1), Slovenia* (1,1) *quota place reallocated from continental level |
World Champs Sprint |
France (2, 1), Spain(2, 1) France (2, 2), Switzerland (1, 2) |
OSRL |
Switzerland (2, 2), Belgium (1, 0), Italy (2, 1), Norway (1, 0) Germany (1, 2), Slovakia (1, 2), Italy (2, 2), Spain (2, 2) |
Using last years World Cup results, 13 countries would gain at least one Olympic quota (including USA), with Italy, France, Switzerland, and Spain maxing out their totals.
The first opportunity for the USA to realistically gain starting rights comes at the continental level. Last year, USA finished 11th on the mixed relay ranking list, one spot in front of Canada. However, our 30 point margin is deceiving, as Canada only scored three races (probably due to simply not starting), while the USA scored the maximum of four. Canada actually beat the USA in every mixed gender relay they competed in head to head last year. I predict it will be a tight and competitive battle between us in order to determine who gains this continental quota.
At the moment, I see this as the pathway for the USA. Even with the sprint list dominated by the Italians and French, causing them to fill their quotas very early on in the allocation process, the last quota spot coming from the OSRL (realistically our only pathway to a second quota spot for either gender), is around 18th position for the men and 8th position for the women. Our best ranked male and female are currently ranked 46th and 31st respectively. I have no doubt we will step up from last year, but we will need improvement even to beat out Canada in the relay and secure a single quota spot per gender. This is where our focus as a country should be.
The French, Italians, and Swiss are currently top the results sheet in the sprints and mixed gender relay... and man just look at that backdrop.
The selection of athletes for these quotas is up to the discretion of the NOC, in our case the USOPC, subject to eligibility requirements. Assuming we are allocated a single quota place per gender, how will the NOC under the guidance of USA Skimo choose who will represent them? We currently have ~12 athletes that met the qualifying eligibility last year (my calculations from looking at world cup results).
I'm not going to beat around the bush. We have not performed exceptional in the sprint on the World Cup level. If we are to gain allocation, it will most likely come from the relay and at the continental level. However, of the few times we have sent U18's across the pond to compete in the U18 Youth World Cup, they have performed well in the sprint. We have only made it into the quarters of a sprint three times on the World Cup, all on the women's side. One could argue our U18's actually have much more experience competing in sprint heats at an international level. It's important to remember that the sprint races at the Olympics are only heats. If it were up to me, and it most certainly is not, we should give our U18's the chance to qualify eligibility wise via the regular World Cups and the U18 World Cup in 2025. If any of them meet the eligibility, and we are allocated an Olympic quota place, then you send them. They are the future. We aren't trying to show up at the Olympics to never be heard from again. Developing this sport so it is sustainable beyond 2026 means investing in the youth. At the moment, we don't have anyone in medal contention in the mixed relay, and aren't qualifying consistently for sprints on the actual World Cup.
So in my mind, given the current state of USA Skimo, there is nothing to lose by going all in for gen z. If this changes, and we have athletes that show medal contention in either the relay or the sprint on the World Cup in 2025 (in my opinion a top 5 in the relay and top 6 in the sprint), or no U18's manage to meet Olympic eligibility, then the World Cup athletes with the best result take precedent.
Regardless, I hope you tune into the World Cup this year. Like I said, these event formats are so new, innovation is happening every time the gun goes off. Whether you are a spectator or a competitor, relish in the fact that you get to be a part of the growth of a sport and have a chance to witness and perform new and exiting things on skimo skis. The opportunity to commit to specializing in this new era of skimo, and pushing the level of the sport, is wide open for anyone to take. There is no reason it can't be us. We have many extremely talented endurance athletes with skiing related backgrounds picking up skimo. It is only a matter of time before one of them blows the croissant right out of french hands, and stamps our arrival to the top of the podium on the international skimo stage.
-Simon
*since you've made it this far here is a sneak peak of some future blog content:
Our current World Cup captain america suits make me want to puke. But there's good news...most of the skimo suits from the other countries make me want to puke more. How is that good news? Well we can expect that at the Olympics these countries will stay consistent, and probably create something terrible, most likely incorporating every color of highlighter into their design.
This means that we don't need to necessarily stick to the classic stars and stripes to stand out. No, we can create something clean, sleek, and for lack of better terms boring, and actually stand out better. Yes, boring is the key to being eye catching and bold in the sea of high lighter puke that is bound to be chasing us in the skin track next winter. When we take over this sport we are going to look good doing so. Very soon, I will release some of my personal designs as well as rank the current lineup of suits on the World Cup. Feel free to drop your own ideas in the comments.
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