Five U.S. Athletes Look To Bolster Their Olympic Hopes At Ski Mountaineering World Championships

The previous 12 editions of the ISMF World Championships served as the pinnacle of ski mountaineering.

The 13th edition, which runs March 2-9 in Morgins, Switzerland, carries additional significance now that the sport known as skimo will be included in the Olympic Winter Games for the first time in Milano Cortina next year.

Though this will be the second world championships since the Olympics announcement, it marks the first time that the world championships have implications for athletes hoping to qualify for the Games, which begin in less than a year on Feb. 6, 2026.

While the qualification process has not been finalized, athlete performance from world cup events taking place between December 2024 through December 2025 will be evaluated for a spot in the Games, according to a preliminary notice sent out by the USOPC’s Ski Mountaineering branch.

There are 11 competitions during that year-long evaluation span, with the world championships being the highest-profile event for athletes to make their mark. Throughout the next year, athletes will be competing for 36 quota spots at the Games, with 18 allotted for each gender.

During the week-long competition in Switzerland, athletes will race in five different disciplines — mixed relay on March 3, vertical on March 4, sprint on March 6, individual on March 7 and team on March 8.

Only the sprint races and mixed relay will be contested in Milano Cortina.

Sprint races usually cover around 80 meters (263 feet) of elevation. The first part of the race is on foot, with athletes either cross-country skiing or hiking while carrying their skis on their back. Athletes then ski down a giant slalom-like course and race to the finish line in a skating style.  

The mixed gender relay is a longer race, as athletes gain roughly 150 to 180 meters (492 to 591 feet) of elevation. A team of one male and one female athlete takes turns racing through the course.

The U.S. will send five athletes to Switzerland to compete in the Olympic disciplines.

Jessie Young and Gwen Rudy will represent the U.S. in the women’s sprint.

This will be the fourth world championships for the 41-year-old Young, with her most recent appearance coming in 2019 in Villars sur Ollon, Switzerland. She finished a career-best 21st in the sprint race that year.

Rudy, 31, will be making her world championships debut in Morgins. Since joining the national team in 2023, Rudy has competed in five sprint races on the world cup circuit. Her best result in a sprint came in Spain last January, when she finished 27th.

Young and Rudy qualified for worlds by being the top two finishers in the women’s sprint at the U.S. championships in January, with Young winning the race.

Cam Smith and Ian Clarke will compete for the U.S. in the men’s sprint.

The 29-year-old Smith has been competing on the national team since 2017, which was the same year when he made his world championships debut. While Smith’s best event is the vertical race (where athletes only ascent up a mountain on skis), he’s had success as a sprinter over the years. His best result in the discipline at worlds was a 27th-place finish in 2019. He recorded his best world cup sprint finish this past November in Spain when he placed 11th.

Clarke, 26, is a late addition to the team, replacing an injured David Sinclair. Clarke made his only previous world championships appearance in 2017, when he placed 22nd in the men’s sprint in Italy. After finishing third in the men’s sprint at the national championships (an event that Sinclair won, with Smith finishing second) this year, he finished 17th in the sprint at a world cup event in Spain earlier in February.

In the mixed relay, Rudy and John Gaston will compete together for the first time.

Gaston, 38, first raced in a world championships in 2013. Despite having more than a decade of experience in skimo, he didn’t compete in his first mixed relay at the senior level until this year’s national championships, where he placed fourth while racing with Young.

Rudy competed with Sinclair at nationals and placed second in the event. That duo raced together twice last season, with their highlight being a 20th-place finish in January in Spain.

Luke Hanlon is a sportswriter and editor based in Minneapolis. He is a freelance contributor to teamusa.com/ski-mountaineering courtesy of Red Line Editorial, Inc.