There will be more gold medals (and silver and bronze) handed out at the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Games than at the last Winter Olympics. There are eight new medal events, including three in an entirely new Olympic sport: ski mountaineering, or skimo, for short.
What the heck is skimo, and when can you watch this new Olympic sport? Let's get you ready to sound like you know what you're talking about before the Games begin.
Meet skimo, the new Olympic sport
As you might have guessed from the name, skimo is a new skiing event. Unlike other ski races, this one involves going both uphill and downhill, combining the endurance of Nordic skiing with the daring of alpine racing, with a pinch of NASCAR pit crew feeling at the top, as competitors transition from climbing to skiing down.
A skimo race begins at the bottom of the hill. Skiers start with carpet-like strips called "skins" on the bottom of their skis, which help them grip the snow as they race uphill. As if cross-country skiing wasn't enough of an aerobic test of pain tolerance, let's make it harder and race uphill!
As racers near the top of the skimo course, there will be a section too steep for skis, so racers will hop out of their skis, throw them on their back and hike up the hill in their boots. This exhausting section is called "boot packing."
Finally, at the top, racers will jump back into their skis, strip off the skins with shocking efficiency and then race down the hill through a series of gates to the finish line. This downhill section will look like a giant slalom race, for those familiar with alpine ski racing.
Before you race down, you must skin and hike up. Sylvie Husson and David Lory/AFP/Getty Images
What are the three skimo events?
There are men's and women's sprint events, as well as a mixed relay.
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