A new sport is set to be given an Olympic presentation at the 2026 Winter Games.
Ski mountaineering has been proposed by the International Olympic Committee executive board as the eighth game on the 2026 program in Milan-Cortina, the Olympic body said Friday.
The sport includes skiing and climbing here and there mountain terrain. The plan is for five new medal events in sprint and individual races for men and women and a mixed gender relay.
Similar events were staged at the 2020 Youth Winter Olympics in Lausanne, Switzerland, where Italian athletes won three of the 15 medals.
“Ski mountaineering is a particularly popular sport in Italy, with deep historical and sporting roots across the alpine regions,” the IOC said in a statement.
The proposition, first made by the Milan-Cortina organizing committee, will be voted on by around 100 IOC individuals at their July 20-21 meeting in front of the Tokyo Olympics opening, the IOC said.
Individuals normally rubber stamp proposition from the IOC board with little or no opposition.
The new sport ought to be added without expanding the number of athletes at the 2026 Olympics. The IOC said 48 athlete places in ski mountaineering – 24 each for men and women — can “be found within the overall framework” of the overall quota of 2,900.