SkiMo World Cup Season Round-up 2024/2025

Since the World Cups kicked off in Courchevel in December, the team has risen through the ranks with each round and gained valuable experience at the Olympic Test Event in Bormio — on the very same slopes where athletes will compete for gold in the sport’s debut at Milano-Cortina 2026.

Edinburgh-born Iain Innes led the British men’s team and started strong in the Sprint discipline (a short ascent and descent lasting around 3-4 minutes) in the Courchevel World Cup round with a 49th place. After a 61st place in Boí Taüll, Spain, he picked up momentum with a 56th place in the Bormio Olympic Test Event in Italy, a 41st place in the World Championships in Morgins, Switzerland (and 38th in the longer Individual competition, where ‘the climbs were a sufferfest’). His personal best World Cup result yet came in Val Martello, Italy, with a 35th place finish in the Individual race (despite a ‘less than perfect start’ and losing a skin on the first climb). This result marked a significant improvement on Iain’s 51st place in the same event last year. The theme of the day was ‘gritting [his] teeth and hanging on for dear life!’, he wrote on Instagram.

In the women’s events, Geneva-based Claudia Chielmowska was consistently the highest-placed British woman and also improved her results throughout the season, starting with a 41st in Courchevel in the Sprint competition and a 49th place in the Vertical event (a single ascent on skis using skins, with no boot packing or downhill skiing). She progressed to 34th in the Sprint in Boí Taüll, before finishing 43rd place in the Bormio Olympic Test Event. She was consistent again in Sprint with a 39th place in the World Championships in Morgins, Switzerland and a 37th place at the World Cup in Schladming, Austria.

However, the strongest results for Great Britain so far have come in the Mixed Relay events, which involves a male-female pair completing two laps each of a longer 7-10 minute course. Iain and Claudia combined forces to finish 35th in Arinsal, Andorra, 28th in Boí Taüll — missing the A finals by just eight seconds — 30th in the Olympic Test event in Bormio, 19th in the World Championships Relay event in Morgins (making their first-ever ISMF final) and 25th place in the Val Martello World Cup Relay.

Iain told the BMC:

‘To qualify for our first finals in the Mixed Relay was pretty special. That was always a goal going into the season, but it definitely felt like a stretch target, so to have achieved that is cool. We made some bold overtakes on the descents, then got overtaken in the transition zones and managed to hang on for dear life in the climbs.’

Claudia commented:

‘It’s been a rewarding season so far. I've been able to see progress throughout the last few months, which has been exciting, capped off by making the Mixed Relay B final. Discovering new mountains on skis has been one of the most enjoyable parts of racing this year. The atmosphere at races is great, there is a lot of team support and encouragement, which makes pushing to 100% all the more fun. Hopefully, we will manage to make another final before the end of the season!’

Summing up the season so far, Iain said:

‘I’m very happy, both for myself and Claudia and for the other GB SkiMo athletes. This is our first full-time season on the World Cup circuit. I did my first ever races last year and Claudia had done some racing, but it was fairly new to all of us and we definitely weren't comfortable on the circuit at the start of the season. We didn't know how all the races worked — all the ins and outs, the rules, the funny things that take time to learn. It felt like we jumped right in the deep end and had to learn all of that stuff, in addition to basic training.

‘It wasn't just about getting fitter and becoming better skiers, it was about becoming better SkiMo racers and learning all the ins and outs. It's not a sport like running, where you can just show up at a Park Run and run as fast as you can for 5k, there's a massive amount of knowledge that others - particularly the Europeans - have because they've raced for years and years, and it felt like they had a real head start on us. We showed up without coaches and had to figure this whole thing out ourselves.’

With little time to rest and train in the mountains between rounds — there was an event each week in March — the team have been focusing on recovery and tapering before the final competitions, while fine-tuning their transitions and tactics.

The Milano-Cortina 2026 Olympic qualification period for SkiMo runs from November 2024 until December 2025. Just 36 athletes — 18 men and 18 women — will make the cut. There are three opportunities to qualify: via the 2025 ISMF World Championships in Morgins (which has already passed), the Olympic Mixed Relay Ranking List, and the Olympic Sprint Ranking List. Italy is also granted one Host Nation quota place per sex.

To earn a quota place, Great Britain needs to rank among the top 12 nations in Mixed Relay. Great Britain is provisionally ranked 17th in the ISMF Olympic Mixed Relay Ranking List.

The final rounds of the 2024/2025 ISMF Ski Mountaineering World Cup Series take place in Villars, Switzerland and Tromsø, Norway from 4 and 10 April respectively.

Iain has been sharing his progress throughout the season on the BMC’s Instagram account - stay tuned for more updates from the last races of the season!

GB Skimo Squad 2024/25:

Men:

Charlie Collins

Angus Davis

Pierre Ferreol

Iain Innes

Matt Knowles

Christian Kober

Neil Palfrey

James Smith

Finlay Wild

Felix Wilson

Women:

Hannah Burnett

Ursula Catton

Claudia Chmielowska

Megan Cooke

Annwen Gammon

Morven MacAllister

Gabriel Muskett

Victoria Thomson

Lauren Woodwiss