The International Ski Mountaineering Federation has announced that the Executive Board of the International Olympic Committee has just approved the Olympic Qualification system for the debut of the sport at the Olympics in Milano Cortina 2026. 

18 male and 18 female athletes will fight for Olympic glory, with three medal events in the calendar: Men’s Sprint, Women’s Sprint and Mixed Relay.

The qualification period will start on November 1, 2024 and will finish on December 21, 2025. The events that will count for the Olympic Mixed Relay Ranking List and the Olympic Sprint Individual Ranking List will be the ISMF World Cups Sprint and Mixed Relay races and the 2025 ISMF World Championships Sprint and Mixed Relay events.

To be eligible to participate at the Olympic Games, athletes must be born on or before 31 December 2007, comply with the medical and anti-doping ISMF requirements according to the rules, and must have achieved either standard A, B or C.

• Have placed in the top 80% of the ranked athletes as published on the official ISMF results at least once in any Sprint or Mixed Relay competition at an ISMF World Cup during the Olympic Qualification period or in the ISMF World Championships 2025.
• Have placed in the top 90% of the ranked athletes as published on the official ISMF results at least two times in any Sprint or Mixed Relay competition at an ISMF World Cup during the Olympic Qualification period or in the ISMF World Championships 2025.
• Have placed on the top six of the ranked athletes as published on the official ISMF results at least once in any Sprint or Mixed Relay competition at an ISMF U18 Youth World Cup during the Olympic Qualification period or in the U18 ISMF World Championships 2025.

Athletes that will compete at the Sprint event in the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026 are also eligible for selection to participate in the Mixed Relay event. Each Mixed Relay team will consist of one male and one female athlete from the same National Olympic Committee (NOC), one team per NOC can participate.

The first allocation criteria is that the Host Country (Italy) will be allocated one quota place per gender.

On the second criteria, the two highest ranked teams from the 2025 ISMF Mixed Relay World Championships will be allocated one quota place per gender. Should the Host Nation be ranked under the top two teams, the next highest ranked elegible team will be allocated the remaining quota place.

For continents that do not already have a NOC allocated quota place on the above mentioned quotas, one quota place per gender will be allocated to the highest ranked NOC from that respective continent according to the ranking of the Olympic Mixed Relay Ranking List, even though quota allocations will only be made to NOCs that have at least one athlete of each gender having met the minimum eligibility standards.

For NOCs that have not already been allocated a quota place on the above mentioned allocation criterias, one quota place per gender will be allocated to NOCs from the top of the Olympic Mixed Relay Ranking lists downwards, until the combined quota mentioned above reaches a limit of twelve per gender.

The two highest ranked athletes from the 2025 ISMF Sprint World Championships men’s and women’s events will obtain one quota place per respective gender for their NOC. Should the two highest ranked athletes be from an NOC, that has already reached the maximum NOC quota allocation, the next highest ranked athlete from an eligible NOC will be allocated the remaining quota place for the respective NOC.

If the two highest ranked athletes (per gender) are from the same NOC and that NOC has not been allocated any quotas in the respective gender, then they will be allocated both quota places. If these NOCs have been allocated one quota place already, then they will be allocated one quota place and the next highest ranked athlete from an eligible NOC will be allocated the remaining quota place for the respective NOC.

All remaining quota places (four men and four women) will be allocated based on the Olympic Sprint Ranking List until the quota limit per gender is reached. When a NOC has been allocated the maximum number of two quota places, its remaining athletes will no longer be counted, and the next eligible NOC on the Olympic Sprint Ranking List will be allocated a quota place.

The Olympic Mixed Relay Ranking List and the Olympic Sprint Ranking List are calculated in accordance with the ISMF Ranking Rules and the ISMF Rules for Olympic Games.

“We are not only excited beyond belief about our upcoming debut at the Olympics, we are also grateful for the commitment and the support of the whole Olympic family to make the first ever Ski Mountaineering races at the Olympic Games a reality. We are extremely grateful to our Sport Director and the Working Group that has put in place these criteria that will guarantee that the best athletes will have the opportunity to perform at the pinnacle of sporting events. I am sure that athletes, coaches, National Federations, NOCs, our officials and all the crews will make everything in their power to make our debut an outstanding one, one that no one will ever forget”, said ISMF President, Regula Meier.

Read more at the International Ski Mountaineering Federation here.