Ski mountaineering, or skimo for short, made its long-awaited Olympic debut on Thursday, February 19th. In the individual sprints, Switzerland’s Marianne Fatton earned the first-ever Olympic skimo gold medal, while Spain’s Oriol Cardona Coll won the men’s sprint. Both Americans made it to the semi-finals. Anna Gibson from Jackson, Wyoming, finished 9th in the women’s race, while Crested Butte local Cameron Smith placed 10th for the men’s individual sprint.
Early this morning, 36 racers—18 men and 18 women—took to the starting line at the Stelvio Alpine Skiing Centre in Bormio, Italy, for the first-ever Olympic ski mountaineering race. Heavy snow fell steadily throughout the races. At the end of the racing day, Oriol Cardona Coll won gold on the men’s side, and Marianne Fatton earned first for women.
The race consisted of three qualifying heats, semi-finals and a final for both the men’s and women’s field, with each race taking roughly 3 minutes.
From the starting gun, sets of six skiers took off up a short open sprint section and a technical uphill, called the diamonds, which forced skiers into two single-file paths weaving through four set diamonds. After the diamonds came a forced bootpack up a series of stairs cut into the snow, followed by a short, steep skin to the transition zone. From the top of the ascent, roughly 230 vertical feet of ski-cross action through six turns, various rolls and over one cheeky jump led to the finish line.
Americans Anna Gibson and Cameron Smith placed ninth and 10th respectively in the women’s and men’s events.
Story of the Race
In the opening heats, top seed Emily Harrop showed why she was the favorite for the women, taking a commanding lead in her heat and finishing with the fastest qualifier time of 3:03.34. Harrop’s main contender, Swiss ski mountaineer Marianne Fatton, won her heat as well. Local Giulia Murada and Spain’s Ana Alonso Rodriguez—who is just back from a torn ACL after getting hit by a car in October—both showed promising runs in the third heat. Despite finishing fifth in her heat, Anna Gibson snuck into the semi-finals as a “lucky loser” with one of the fastest remaining times.
On the men’s side, number one-ranked Oriol Cardona Coll cruised through his qualifying heat. Switzerland’s Jon Kistler took off like a rocket and led his heat from start to finish, while French powerhouse Thibault Anselmet briefly stumbled in the bootpack but recovered with two lightning-fast transitions to qualify for the semi-finals. With the help of a fast group, Cameron Smith’s fourth place was enough to slide him into the next round as a “lucky loser” as well.
It was down to 12 men and 12 women for the semi-finals. Harrop and Fatton made light work of the first semi-finals race with steady, veteran pacing. It was the second women’s semi-final that provided the drama.
Murada looked set to qualify but dropped her skis while transitioning to the bootpack, and Marianna Jagerčíková watched her Olympic dreams fade away with two fumbled transitions. Meanwhile, French youngster Margot Ravinol and German Tatjana Paller both were perfect through all three transitions, finished first and second respectively. Murada made up lost time on the downhill to squeak into finals as a “lucky loser.”
Of the 12 remaining men, Cardona Coll came in second in his semi-final to qualify for the final round, but it was Kistler who showed the most promise, comfortably beating the Spaniard to top spot. Switzerland’s Arno Lietha put down the fastest men’s time in the second semi-final race with a 2:33.79, followed close behind by Nikita Filippov.
An Olympic Podium
Finals began less than an hour later with the women’s sprint. Harrop held the two fastest qualifying times and was yet to lose in the World Cup this year, but if anyone could beat her, it was two-time World Championship-winner Fatton.
Harrop led the way through the diamonds and up the bootpack, but she struggled to get her right boot back into her pins on top of the bootpack. Fatton capitalized with a lightning-fast transition.
Fatton led the way through the downhill and across the line in a searing 2 minutes and 59 seconds, while Harrop held on for second. Ana Alonso Rodriguez took advantage of a slow skin pull by Ravinol to take bronze and Spain’s first medal of these Winter Olympics.
Twenty minutes later, the men took the line for the final individual skimo race of the Olympics. After leading every race, Kistler kept up his steaming pace, leading the men’s finals out through the diamonds. But favorite Cardona Coll made his move on the bootpack. Kistler got caught up in the transition, and his compatriot, Lietha, fell on the stairs to give Cardona Coll a commanding lead. Filippov and Anselmet took full advantage to go into second and third on the course.
No positions changed on the descent, and Cardona Coll claimed Spain’s first winter Olympics gold with a time of 2:34.03. Filippov took home silver, and Anselmet crossed close behind for the bronze.
Up Next
With the individual sprints concluded, Saturday’s mixed relay provides the next and only other opportunity for a skimo medal. Harrop will look for redemption alongside French teammate Anselmet. Americans Gibson and Smith will hope to carry the momentum from their World Cup relay win in January into Saturday’s long-distance relay race.
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