VIDEO SHOWS: A NEW ENTRY FOR THE WINTER OLYMPICS, SKI MOUNTAINEERING'S GERMAN ATHLETES TRAIN IN AUSTRIA SHOWS: OBERGURGL, TYROL, AUSTRIA (NOVEMBER 10, 2025) (REUTERS - Access all) 1. ATHLETES RUNNING TOWARDS HILL 2. ATHLETES TAKING OFF SKIS AND PUTTING THEM ON THEIR BACKS 3. ATHLETES RUNNING UP MOUNTAIN WITH SKIS ON BACKS 4. DRONE OF ATHLETES RUNNING UP MOUNTAIN WITH SKIS ON BACKS 5. ATHLETES COMING OVER CREST OF HILL 6. VARIOUS OF ATHLETES PUTTING SKIS BACK ON AND SKIING DOWNHILL 7. DRONE OF ATHLETES SKIING DOWNHILL 8. (SOUNDBITE) (English) FINN HOESCH, SKIMO-ATHLETE FOR THE GERMAN NATIONAL TEAM, SAYING ABOUT THE SPRINT DISCIPLINE PROCEDURE: "We´re starting on skis, running, and then we're doing some technical turns in the course and then approaching the first transition zone and putting the skis on the backpack to have a foot part and then putting the skis on the feet again and having the last part on skis then skins off and downhill back to the start.” 9. VARIOUS OF ATHLETES REMOVING SKINS FROM SKIS TO GET READY FOR SPRINT 10. ATHLETES GOING UPHILL ON SKIS 11. VARIOUS OF SKIMO-ATHLETE TATJANA PALLER HEADING OFF CROSS COUNTRY 12. PALLER'S SKIS 13. (SOUNDBITE) (English) TATJANA PALLER, SKIMO-ATHLETE FOR THE GERMAN NATIONAL TEAM, SAYING: “For me Skimo was the perfect mix of an endurance sport and also going downhill. I really like both and the best thing you are always outside, always on the best playground in the world I think: in the mountains. And I love this sport so much and I'm so happy with my decision that I made six years ago.” 14. VARIOUS OF ATHLETES IN CROSS COUNTRY PART 15. DRONE OF PRACTISE SLOPE 16. ATHLETIC DIRECTOR OF THE GERMAN SKIMO-TEAM HERMANN GRUBER EXPLAINING A TRAINING DRILL 17. (SOUNDBITE) (English) HERMANN GRUBER, ATHLETIC DIRECTOR OF THE GERMAN SKIMO-TEAM, SAYING: “I think ski mountaineering is one of the oldest ski sports ever. But it's not known as ski mountaineering, it's known as ski touring. Ski mountaineering is the competition sport of ski touring, and I think the ISMF, the International Ski Mountaineering Federation, was founded around 2007. So around about this point it's a sport federation and we are the first time now in 2026 in Milano Cortina as an Olympic sport.” 18. ATHLETES HEADING TOWARDS POLES TO MANOEUVRE ROUND 19. VARIOUS OF ATHLETES NAVIGATING POLES 20. (SOUNDBITE (English) TATJANA PALLER, SKIMO-ATHLETE FOR THE GERMAN NATIONAL TEAM, SAYING: “I think it's an element of ski mountaineering in the main sense that when you climb a mountain sometimes you go with the skis on our feet, but sometimes you put your skis on your back when it's too steep for example. And in the sprint, they tried to do all the elements in a short race. And that's why we have to do this and also the downhill, because it's a concentration from all the elements in a really short time.” 21. VARIOUS OF ATHLETES PUTTING SKINS ON SKIS 22. DOWNHILL SKIERS GOING PAST CAMERA 23. (SOUNDBITE (English) FINN HOESCH, SKIMO-ATHLETE FOR THE GERMAN NATIONAL TEAM, SAYING: “A ski mountaineer needs to be fast, light and strong to get up the mountain. He needs to be a good skier and doing technically well dealing with the skis.” 24. DRONE OF ATHLETES ON SKIS 25. ATHLETES ON MOUNTAIN 26. (SOUNDBITE) (English) TATJANA PALLER, SKIMO-ATHLETE FOR THE GERMAN NATIONAL TEAM, SAYING ABOUT SKI MOUNTAINEERING AS AN OLYMPIC SPORT: “Yeah it's a really big chance for our sport, for the development, for the the boom, we can really see a big big boom. It's great. It's a big chance for me personally but also for the sport in general.” 27. DRONE OF SKIMO-ATHLETES STORY: The German national ski mountaineering team was hard at work in the Austrian Alps on Monday (November 10) as the athletes prepare for the sport's Olympic debut at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milano Cortina. Athletes practiced the sprint discipline in Austria's Obergurgl under clear skies, one of two ski mountaineering events that will feature at the Games alongside the Mixed competition. The sprint discipline requires athletes to rapidly transition between different modes of mountain travel. Finn Hoesch, a hopeful for the German Olympic team, described the process: "We're starting on skis, running with them and then we're doing some technical turns in the course and then approaching the first transition zone and putting the skis on the backpack to have a foot part and then putting the skis on the feet again and having the last part on skis then skins off and downhill back to the start." Athletes attach skins under their skis for uphill sections, providing traction on steep terrain, then remove them for downhill portions. German team member Tatjana Paller said the Sprint condenses traditional ski mountaineering elements into a short race. "When you climb a mountain sometimes you go with the skis on our feet, but sometimes you put your skis on your back when it's too steep for example," she said. Ski mountaineering, the competitive form of ski touring, encompasses five disciplines but only Sprint and Mixed will be contested at the Olympics. Hermann Gruber is the Athletic Director of the German team. "I think ski mountaineering is one of the oldest ski sports ever. But it's not known as ski mountaineering, it's known as ski touring. Ski mountaineering is the competition sport of ski touring," Gruber said to Reuters during the practice on Monday. Hoesch said competitors must be "fast, light and strong to get up the mountain" while also being technically skilled skiers. Paller, who switched from professional cycling to ski mountaineering six years ago, called the Olympic inclusion "a really big chance for our sport." The 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympics will mark ski mountaineering's first appearance as an Olympic sport. (Production: Louisa Off, Anja Guder, Tanya Wood) (The article has been published through a syndicated feed. Except for the headline, the content has been published verbatim. Liability lies with original publisher.)
