"Cardona, who has trail running results such as a sixth-place finish at the 2019 Zegama Marathon, has focused more on ski mountaineering (skimo) than trail running since 2022. He is considered one of the strongest skimo athletes in the sprint distance, and, aside from a small bobble in the semi-finals, was dominant from the preliminary round to the finals. He won the final well clear of the rest of the field in 2:34.03."
"Skimo, which - at its very basic description - involves running uphill on skis and then skiing back down, and rewards incredible uphill speed and the ability to ski quickly downhill on very skinny, lightweight skis. Skiers use skins, which provide grip, on the bottom of their skis to climb, then take them off to ski downhill. There were three rounds of action: a preliminary heat, semi-finals, and the final."
"The Olympic sprint course took men about 2.5 minutes and women about 3 minutes. It was comprised of an approximately 75- to 90-second climb on skis, after which skiers put their skis on their backs to run up a set of stairs for about 15 seconds, followed by another uphill ski for another approximately 20 seconds, before pulling the skins off their skis to descend a course through a set of ski-cross gates, as well as negotiate a small jump."
Oriol Cardona claimed gold in the 2026 Olympic Games Ski Mountaineering Men's Sprint in Bormio, finishing in 2:34.03 after dominating from preliminaries to the final. Cardona shifted emphasis from trail running to ski mountaineering since 2022 and showed top sprint form despite a minor semi-final bobble. Emily Harrop of France earned silver in the women's sprint behind Switzerland's Marianne Fatton. Trail runners Cam Smith and Anna Gibson reached the semi-finals for Team USA. The sprint course combined steep uphill skins sections, a brief stairs run with skis carried, fast transitions, and a downhill through ski-cross gates in snowy conditions.
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