1. The Races

1.1.  Individual

1.2. Vertical

1.3. Sprint

1.4. Mixed relay

1.5. Team relay

2.  The key National Team

2.1. Italy

2.2. France

2.3. Switzerland

2.4. Spain

2.5. Belgium

2.6. Slovakia

2.7. Andorra

2.8. Canada

2.9. Poland

3. The Events

3.1. World Cup

3.2. Road to Italy

3.3. Pierra Menta

3.4. European Championship

3.5. Transcavallo

4. Conclusion

The individual race, the first to be introduced into international competitions, features the longest distance of all the race formats. The course consists of at least three climbs and three descents, with a minimum total elevation gain of 1,200 meters in the senior and masters categories. Some sections may require participants to climb ridges or couloirs on foot, carrying their skis on their backpacks — though these sections account for less than 20% of the total elevation gain.

The individual race typically takes at least 90 minutes to complete, testing the athletes’ physical endurance, composure in the transitions, and speed when descending on fresh snow.

The vertical race features the shortest distance and is climbing only, with a minimum elevation gain of 500 to 700 meters, so there are no descents or transitions. Depending on the size of the course, athletes either sprint from the starting line in a group or follow one another in a time trial format. The race requires maximum physical effort, and the winner usually finishes in under 30 minutes.

Of all the events, the sprint is the one most closely linked with cross-country skiing and is also the most adrenaline-filled. The athletes compete in heats of six, creating a thrilling single-elimination battle to the final.

The five minutes of racing feature a climb consisting of three segments — two on skis, including a technical “diamond” section, and one on foot in the middle — followed by a descent on the opposite side, along a course marked with appropriate signs at the turns. The sprint race requires great skill in attaching and removing skins, as well as maximum explosiveness due to the presence of single track that limits overtaking, especially when climbing.

An evolution of the sprint event, the team race involves a mixed pair of athletes from the same national team. Each member must complete a course that includes two climbs (on skis and on foot) and two descents before handing over to their teammate. The female athlete goes first, and each team member races twice. The mixed relay, which lasts approximately 20 minutes, follows the sprint event’s single-elimination format.

This is the format of the great ski mountaineering classics. Each team is composed of two or three athletes who must remain together throughout the entire race and cross the finish line together. While climbing, teams are usually permitted to use a tow rope for support in certain sections.

The team relay can be either a single race, as in the case of the Transcavallo, one of the most legendary team races, or a stage classification. This is the format of the Pierra Menta, the “Tour de France of ski mountaineering,” which awards victory to the men’s, women’s, or mixed teams with the fastest overall time at the end of the event’s four stages.

The history of skimo racing is deeply connected with that of the Italian national team. Italian athletes have achieved more than 300 victories, including World Cup wins, world titles, and victories in the great classics of “La Grande Course.” They also achieved nine consecutive victories in the men’s overall World Cup rankings, from 2014 to 2022.

These numbers highlight Italy’s leading role in the sport, which can be attributed in no small part to the collaboration between FISI (the Italian Winter Sports Federation) and the Centro Sportivo Esercito (the Army Sports Center), a true powerhouse in developing the country’s most successful athletes.

Among the names who have contributed in recent seasons to Italy’s second-place position in the all-time national rankings are Robert Antonioli (four overall World Cup victories), Matteo Eydallin (currently the most successful athlete in skimo history), and Michele Boscacci (three gold and three silver medals at world and European championships, as well as two ISMF crystal globes). In the women’s field, the athletes to keep an eye on include Alba De Silvestro, who has already won several medals at the European championships and major classics, and Giulia Murada, who will form a formidable pairing with Nicolò Canclini in the mixed relays.

Since the 2022/2023 season, the most successful athletes, whether in the World Cup, ski touring classics, or the finals of continental or world championships, have come from the FFME (French Mountaineering and Climbing Federation). The French team has dominated consistently and is the favorite at the start of the new season.

In the men’s field, Thibault Anselmet has achieved victory in the world’s most important competition circuit three times in a row, equaling Robert Antonioli’s treble from 2019 to 2021. No one else in the history of the World Cup competition has matched them.

Among the women, Emily Harrop’s run has been unstoppable. After her quartet of crystal globes in the ISMF World Cup, the 1997-born athlete from Bourg-Saint-Maurice has set her sights on the six consecutive titles won by compatriot Laetitia Roux between 2012 and 2017. Her already legendary career also includes two Pierra Menta titles and a Trofeo Mezzalama. In 2025/2026, she will continue the rivalry with her friend and frequent relay partner Axelle Gachet-Mollaret, the undisputed star of the individual events and holder of nine victories in the Pierra Menta and Mezzalama.

Joining them is Célia Perillat-Pessey, who, after two consecutive second-place finishes in the overall standings, is now aiming for the victory. She is the leading representative of a generation that is extremely competitive in all race formats. 

It’s impossible not to mention Xavier Gachet, who, after winning practically everything last season — the world title, the French national title, the Adamello Ski Raid, and Pierra Menta together with compatriot William Bon Mardion — has no intention of stopping. The hero from Arêches-Beaufort is determinedly aiming for victory in his home race, which would earn him the long-distance world championship title, and in the European championships. 

The Frenchman who has already collected at least one career victory in all the major classics has ambitious goals. After three triumphs at Belle Étoile, Samuel Equy will continue his personal pursuit of another multistage team event in the 2025/2026 season. The Sainte-Marie-d’Alloix native has already won several overall national titles in France and will be chasing first place in the premier team relay events, with a particular focus on the world title.

Switzerland may be the national team with the greatest potential to break the French dynasty. After three consecutive third-place finishes overall, the newly crowned world champion in the individual and vertical disciplines, Rémi Bonnet, is preparing to once again defend the Swiss colors. Last season, the 30-year-old triumphed in every vertical World Cup event, demonstrating the mindset of a true champion in the most important races. This achievement stems from an unparalleled ability to push himself on the climbs, which also makes him highly competitive in the mixed relay partnered with Aurélien Gay.

The spotlight will also be on the talents of twins Thomas and Robin Bussard, who have already achieved multiple podium finishes in ISMF sprint events and were the stars of the historic gold medal in ski mountaineering’s 2020 debut in the youth competitions in Lausanne, teaming up with Thibe Deseyn and Caroline Ulrich. The list of those competing for the season’s top honors is rounded out by Arno Lietha.

In 2019, the then 19-year-old stunned the ski mountaineering world by becoming world champion in the fastest event in front of his home crowd. His nine victories in sprint events since then place him at the forefront of the race for the title that will be awarded in Bormio, the pinnacle of an entire career.

Consistently at the top of the sprint and mixed relay rankings in ISMF events, Spain is the team to beat when it comes to speed and self-possession. This is evidenced by the 15 podium finishes collected by the Iberian specialists in the 2024/2025 season, by Ana Alonso Rodríguez, Ot Ferrer Martínez, Iñigo Martinez de Albornoz, and Oriol Cardona Coll.

Born in 1994 and a native of Banyoles, Oriol Cardona Coll currently ranks fifth in the men’s all-time World Cup rankings for points earned — 6,212 — and holds the all-time record for the sprint and mixed relay disciplines. He represents a program that has evolved and continued to win, following in the footsteps of his majesty Kilian Jornet Burgada, and has all the prerequisites in place to bring victory to the Spanish federation in the two most anticipated races in the history of the sport, taking place in late February 2026.

Ana Alonso Rodriguez, the brilliant Spanish athlete currently ranked second in the world, is fresh off a victory in the World Cup mixed relay with Oriol Cardona Coll. A serious accident in the summer of 2025 has partially compromised her medal chances in Bormio, but it hasn’t dampened the tenacity of someone who has already demonstrated the ability to bounce back in record time after a terrible injury. This is another challenge that Ana is ready to face once again with a smile, chasing a podium finish that would go down in the annals of the sport.

The lack of significant mountain ranges at home has led the Belgian program to relocate to the Alpine region, primarily in Switzerland and France, where the national championships continue to be held. For the Red Devils, the hopes of carrying the Belgian flag to the top of international competitions rest with Maximilien Drion du Chapois, who will be one of the most versatile athletes in the field, both in the World Cup and in the two events in Bormio.

After reaching the second step of the podium three times in a row on the ISMF world circuit, our ambassador is ready to break through to the top, armed with a climbing engine that few can match and an attention to detail that leaves nothing to chance in the events that matter. The results he achieved in the vertical and sprint races last season suggest that he will be a key player in 2026.

Heir to a winning Alpine tradition, Slovakian ski mountaineering has produced athletes of international caliber. It couldn’t be otherwise for this small Central European country whose rugged landscape is dominated by the Carpathian Mountains.

With a list of achievements that includes more than 100 victories in various categories, Marianna Jagerčíková stands out as the most successful athlete in the history of Slovakian ski mountaineering. After claiming the European title in 2022 and the world title the following year, the 40-year-old native of Brezno is ready to impress once again in the sprints, where she has already demonstrated her ability to shine both climbing and descending. 

Among the Slovakian national team athletes preparing to begin the 2025/2026 season, all eyes are on Jakub Siarnik and Rebeka Cully in the senior ranks and Sára Machajová and Nikola Maťková in the younger categories. These promising young talents, after their successes at the national level, are eager to perform on the most important stages.
     

A mecca of trail running and skimo on the Iberian Peninsula, Andorra is experiencing a period of great success and excitement. A generation of tremendous young athletes is poised to shine in team events, sharing part of the Spanish culture that has led the “roja” to dominate the mixed relay rankings.

Oriol Olm Rouppert and Lea Ancion Havet’s eighth-place finish in their home race in Arinsal during the 2024/2025 World Cup season is encouraging. They are part of a group of athletes in their early 20s who aren’t afraid to compete with ski mountaineering champions and are determined to carve out a prominent place for themselves in the vertical and mixed relay rankings.

Launched only in 2004, with the establishment of the Canadian Ski Mountaineering Federation, Canadian skimo racing continues to grow. The national team’s most prestigious results have come in team events, such as Katarina Kuba and Alison Walford’s sixth-place finish at the 2023 world championships in Boi Taull and Kylee Ohler and Rea Kolbl’s fourth-place finish at the 2023 Pierra Menta.

This positive trend was confirmed by Jessie McAuley’s 12th-place finish at the 2025 Pierra Menta. Born in 2000, McAuley is a star in the program and is one of the most promising athletes of the new generation. McAuley will be making waves in the coming seasons in the ranks of the Great White North.

The Polish national team does not have the pressure of being the favorite, but its athletes have demonstrated their ability to surprise. In the World Cup, they have finished eighth in the mixed relay three times. The pair of Iwona Januszyk and Jan Elantkowski made it to the semifinal heats both at the final event in Cortina in 2023/2024 and at the Iberian events in Arinsal and Boi Taull the following World Cup season.

These are the highlights among many equally positive performances that have consistently propelled the two-time national champions into the top 10 of the world’s most prestigious circuit. Januszyk’s trophy cabinet is further enhanced by the silver medal she won at the 2023 Mezzalama, teamed up with Marianna Jagerčíková and Elena Nicolini. These impressive results have earned her a leading role in the Polish skimo program.

The ski mountaineering racing season will officially kick off with the U.S. debut of the ISMF World Cup in the mountains of Utah, in Solitude, on December 6 and 7, 2025. This is not just a simple race: athletes will compete in the sprint and mixed relay for the final places in the events that will be held in Bormio in 2026.

The schedule for the 23rd World Cup includes seven more stops in seven locations across the Alps. To find out who the overall and specialty winners will be, we’ll have to wait until early April, when the long-awaited finals will take place in Villars.
 

Six years after the appetizer offered by the youth competitions in Lausanne in 2020, skimo is preparing to debut on the most prestigious stage of all, with the sprint and mixed relay finals scheduled, respectively, for February 19 and 21, 2026. Two dates that will make history for a winter sports discipline that continues to grow.

We at Karpos will take you behind the scenes of skimo racing through “Road to Italy”. In the three episodes of the web series, scheduled for release from December 30, 2025, you’ll meet the people who have contributed most to the development of the discipline, both technically and in terms of media exposure, and get an exclusive preview of the course that will host the sprint race at the Stelvio Ski Centre.

Described by many as “the most beautiful ski mountaineering race in the world,” the Pierra Menta will in 2026 reach the historic milestone of 40 editions. From March 11 to 14, the small village of Arêches-Beaufort in Haute-Savoie will become the world center of skimo, awarding the long-distance world championship title to the pairs of athletes who finish first in the four stages that wind through the Graian Alps, after more than 85 kilometers and 10,000 meters of elevation gain. A true celebration of old-school ski mountaineering shared by professional athletes and amateurs.

The packed 2025/2026 season calendar also features the European championships in Shahdag, Azerbaijan, which will award the continental titles in the four ISMF specialties (sprint, mixed relay, individual, and vertical) from March 4 to 8, 2026.

In addition to the top senior athletes from the individual national federations, the European Cup will be an opportunity to discover the future talents of ski mountaineering in the under-18, under-20, and under-23 categories.

The Transcavallo is one of the most storied skimo races. Part of the “La Grande Course” circuit, this classic team event pits pairs of athletes against each other on the snowy slopes of Veneto and Friuli Venezia Giulia, over a 30-kilometer course with 2,500 meters of elevation gain.

A true ski marathon, it will reach its iconic 43rd edition in 2026. At Karpos, we’re proud to have supported this event as a technical partner since 2014, enabling ski mountaineering enthusiasts to discover the “gateway to the Dolomites”.