The men's sprint competition in ski mountaineering at the 2026 Winter Olympics was held on 19 February at the Stelvio Ski Centre in Bormio, Italy. The event made its Olympic debut. It was won by Oriol Cardona of Spain. This was only the second Winter Olympic gold for Spain; Francisco Fernández Ochoa won the previous one in 1972 in alpine skiing. Russian Nikita Filippov, competing as an Individual Neutral Athlete, won the silver medal and Thibault Anselmet of France won bronze.
Background At the 2025–26 ISMF Ski Mountaineering World Cup, only three sprint events were held before the Olympics. Jon Kistler, Oriol Cardona and Thibault Anselmet won one each. The 2025 World champion was Cardona.
Ski mountaineering consists of skiing uphill with "skins" on the bottom of the ski; these are carpet-like coverings that provide grip to the skier. The athletes then remove their skis and place them in their backpack, before climbing a rise on foot. They then return to their skis to finish their climb. Once they reach the ascent, they remove the skins and ski downhill to the finish line.
Qualification
Results Heats Top 3 in each heat and the fastest 3 (LL) overall qualify to the Semifinals. Heat 1 Rank Bib Athlete Country Time Deficit Note 1 1 Oriol Cardona 2:37.96 Q 2 6 Ot Ferrer 2:41.32 +3.36 Q 3 7 Pablo Giner Dalmasso 2:42.37 +4.41 Q 4 13 Bu Luer 2:43.89 +5.93 LL 5 18 Michele Boscacci 2:50.79 +12.83 6 12 Paul Verbnjak 2:58.39 +20.43
Heat 2 Rank Bib Athlete Country Time Deficit Note 1 2 Jon Kistler 2:38.36 Q 2 8 Nikita Filippov 2:39.84 +1.48 Q 3 5 Maximilien Drion 2:42.40 +4.04 Q 4 14 Cameron Smith 2:47.59 +9.23 LL 5 17 Phillip Bellingham 2:48.39 +10.03 LL 6 11 Trym Dalset Lødøen 2:55.87 +17.51
Heat 3 Rank Bib Athlete Country Time Deficit Note 1 3 Arno Lietha 2:43.23 Q 2 4 Thibault Anselmet 2:46.98 +3.75 Q 3 9 Hans-Inge Klette 2:48.19 +4.96 Q 4 10 Finn Hösch 2:51.99 +8.76 5 15 Jan Elantkowski 3:01.99 +18.76 6 16 Jakub Šiarnik 3:02.29 +19.06
Semifinals Semifinal 1 Rank Bib Athlete Country Time Deficit Note 1 2 Jon Kistler 2:34.93 Q 2 1 Oriol Cardona 2:36.10 +1.17 Q 3 4 Thibault Anselmet 2:37.17 +2.24 LL 4 13 Bu Luer 2:47.04 +12.11 5 9 Hans-Inge Klette 2:51.30 +16.37 6 17 Phillip Bellingham 3:13.53 +38.60
Semifinal 2 Rank Bib Athlete Country Time Deficit Note 1 3 Arno Lietha 2:33.79 Q 2 8 Nikita Filippov 2:34.53 +0.74 Q 3 6 Ot Ferrer 2:37.27 +3.48 LL 4 7 Pablo Giner Dalmasso 2:41.29 +7.50 5 5 Maximilien Drion 2:47.23 +13.44 6 14 Cameron Smith 2:50.74 +16.95
Final Rank Bib Athlete Country Time Deficit 1 Oriol Cardona 2:34.03 8 Nikita Filippov 2:35.55 +1.52 4 Thibault Anselmet 2:36.34 +2.31 4 3 Arno Lietha 2:39.07 +5.04 5 6 Ot Ferrer 2:54.45 +20.42 6 2 Jon Kistler 2:57.87 +23.84
References