BEIJING -- The International Ski Mountaineering Federation (ISMF) has announced that eight athletes - four men and four women - have earned the first qualification spots for ski mountaineering's Olympic debut at the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Games, following the conclusion of the 2025 Ski Mountaineering World Championships.
According to the qualification system, ski mountaineering at Milan 2026 will feature 18 men and 18 women, totaling 36 athletes. These competitors will participate in both the mixed relay and sprint events. Quotas are allocated to National Olympic Committees (NOCs), each allowed to send a maximum of two male and two female athletes. Athlete selection for these spots is at the discretion of the NOCs, subject to eligibility requirements.
At the World Championships, the top two teams in the mixed relay earned one male and one female quota spot each for their respective NOCs. In the men's and women's sprint events, the top two finishers also secured one quota spot each for their NOCs.
The mixed relay title was claimed by the French duo Emily Harrop and Thibault Anselmet with a finishing time of 32 minutes and 44.1 seconds, followed by Spain's Ana Alonso Rodriguez and Oriol Cardona Coll, who finished 0.9 seconds behind.
In the men's sprint, Coll clocked 2:42.4 to seize the gold, and silver went to Anselmet, who trailed by 5.3 seconds. Switzerland's Marianne Fatton won the women's sprint with a time of 3:09.9, followed by Harrop, who finished 1.3 seconds behind.
With these results, France secured the maximum quota of two men and two women. Spain earned two men's spots and one women's spot, leaving them one female quota short of a full team. Switzerland gained one women's quota.
For Team China, the best results in the senior category were two 12th-place finishes, achieved by Cidan Yuzhen in the women's vertical race and Yisimayi Tuohetaraili in the men's sprint.
