|
Not held in other editions
| Event type

Sprint, Men

Date19 February 2026
StatusOlympic
LocationStelvio Ski Centre, Bormio, Sondrio
Participants18 from 14 countries
Referee #1Monika StrojnyPOL
Referee #2Gabriele Schieder-ModereggerGER
Referee #3Youri LeclercqFRA
Referee #4Yang XiufengCHN
DetailsDistance: 725 m
Highest Point: 1265 m
Start Altitude: 1200 m
Total Ascent: 65 m
Total Descent: 65 m

This was one of the three new ski mountaineering events, a sport which made its debut at Milano-Cortina 2026. The ski mountaineering events were held at the Stelvio Ski Centre in Bormio, Italy.

The men’s sprint event started at an altitude of 1,200 metres and ascended 65 metres over a track length of 725 metres before descending. Three heats were contested with six skiiers each, with the top three in each heat and the three fastest lucky losers advancing to the semi-finals. The top two in each semi-final and the next two fastest skiiers advanced to the final.

The favorite was Spain’s Oriol Cardona, who was World Champion in 2023 and 2025, and had won a World Cup sprint earlier in the season. He was expected to be challenged by France’s Thibault Anselmet, runner-up to Cardona at the 2023 and 2025 Worlds, but who had a win against him at the recent World Cup.

Both Cardona and Anselmet easily qualified for the final, joined there by Russian neutral athlete Nikita Filippov, Swiss challengers Arno Lietha and Jon Kistler, who went 1-2 in the World Cup in Utah in early December, and Cardona’s teammate Ot Ferrer. Cardona was mostly unchallenged in taking the gold medal, winning by over 1½ seconds over Filippov. Lietha was among the medalists for most of the race but was passed near the end by Anselmet, who took the bronze medal.

PosCompetitorNOC
1Oriol CardonaESPGold
2Nikita FilippovAINSilver
3Thibault AnselmetFRABronze
4Arno LiethaSUI
5Ot FerrerESP
6Jon KistlerSUI
7Pablo Giner DalmassoFRA
8Bu LuerCHN
9Maximilien DrionBEL
10Hans-Inge KletteNOR
11Cam SmithUSA
12Phil BellinghamAUS
13Finn HöschGER
14Michele BoscacciITA
15Jan ElantkowskiPOL
16Trym Dalset LødøenNOR
17Paul VerbnjakAUT
18Jakub ŠiarnikSVK

Round One

Date19 February 2026 — 10:30
FormatTop 3 in each heat and next three fastest advanced to semi-finals.

Heat #1

Time10:30
PosCompetitorNOCTime
1Oriol CardonaESP2:37.96Q
2Ot FerrerESP2:41.32Q
3Pablo Giner DalmassoFRA2:42.37Q
4Bu LuerCHN2:43.89q
5Michele BoscacciITA2:50.79
6Paul VerbnjakAUT2:58.39

Heat #2

PosCompetitorNOCTime
1Jon KistlerSUI2:38.36Q
2Nikita FilippovAIN2:39.84Q
3Maximilien DrionBEL2:42.40Q
4Cam SmithUSA2:47.59q
5Phil BellinghamAUS2:48.39q
6Trym Dalset LødøenNOR2:55.87

Heat #3

PosCompetitorNOCTime
1Arno LiethaSUI2:43.23Q
2Thibault AnselmetFRA2:46.98Q
3Hans-Inge KletteNOR2:48.19Q
4Finn HöschGER2:51.99
5Jan ElantkowskiPOL3:01.99
6Jakub ŠiarnikSVK3:02.29

Semi-Finals

Date19 February 2026 — 13:25
FormatTop 2 in each heat and next three fastest advanced to finals.

Heat #1

Time13:25
PosCompetitorNOCTime
1Jon KistlerSUI2:34.93Q
2Oriol CardonaESP2:36.10Q
3Thibault AnselmetFRA2:37.17q
4Bu LuerCHN2:47.04
5Hans-Inge KletteNOR2:51.30
6Phil BellinghamAUS3:13.53

Heat #2

PosCompetitorNOCTime
1Arno LiethaSUI2:33.79Q
2Nikita FilippovAIN2:34.53Q
3Ot FerrerESP2:37.27q
4Pablo Giner DalmassoFRA2:41.29
5Maximilien DrionBEL2:47.23
6Cam SmithUSA2:50.74

Final Round

Date19 February 2026 — 14:15
PosCompetitorNOCTime
1Oriol CardonaESP2:34.03
2Nikita FilippovAIN2:35.55
3Thibault AnselmetFRA2:36.34
4Arno LiethaSUI2:39.07
5Ot FerrerESP2:54.45
6Jon KistlerSUI2:57.87