Paquito’s relay is in the mountain skiing

Now, 53 years later, the possibility of repeating that deed seems more real than ever thanks to an almost unknown specialty that will debut in the Cortina D’A Ampezzo 2026 games. The mountain skiing – Skimo, in its most international appellation – has grown in an unsuspected manner in Spain until it turns the national team into favorite to hang, at least, a gold medal. A historical opportunity for a group of skiers who, just five years ago, could not even dream it and now glimpse it on the horizon while adding a success after another in the World Cup.

Because today Spain is the leader of the world ranking in mixed relay and has two giants in the Sprint test: Oriol Cardona in the male category and Ana Alonso in the female. And just those three tests will be those that are played in curtain.

Alonso and Cardona shone last week in the ‘Event’ test of Bormio, the same station where the Olympic skimo will be held next year. There they showed that they are prepared to fight for the top after achieving gold in the mixed relay, the second they achieve this season after winning in Andorra. Those triumphs, united to the second since they got at home, in Boí Taüll, keep them leaders of the general classification.

Before, Cardona had also won the Sprint test, where he marches second in the general, while Alonso was fourth. Expectations for both cannot be better. And besides, they are not alone. “Now we have eight athletes with scholarship, dedicated exclusively to train and compete,” says this newspaper Jordi Martín, the Spanish coach. «Institutional support has been decisive. We dream of the Olympic medal, but we should not trust us ».

Mountain skiing has centenary roots. In principle, he only had a playful vocation, but over time the competition also ended up finding his hole. Epic races emerged in the Alps, where the participants toured valleys and peaks carrying the material behind them. That free and wild essence remains the soul of many traditional tests, but it has little to do with what will be seen in the games.

“The duration of the tests has changed due to the demands of the television format and the IOC,” details the coach. «It seeks to condense mountain races in eliminatory sprints of about three minutes or in mixed relays of 30 or 40 minutes in total. People no longer endure an hour or more watching television, and also want to encourage female participation with mixed disciplines. The circuit is similar: up, down and a stretch on foot with skis in the backpack. These more explosive distances need to train speed and recovery capacity, although the base remains the resistance ».

Sprint’s modality is the newest and most spectacular. It combines a rise up with a rhombus area, a kick with skis in the backpack, another rise with skis making zetas and a small descent per path. All this in six -skiers series that are eliminated to the grand final. In Spain it has worked perfectly. There are no endless alpine routes of Switzerland or Austria, but of places such as the Pyrenees and Sierra Nevada, where high intensity tours can be drawn. “Although we have less snow, Olympic disciplines are short tests, in controlled environments, and that makes it easier for us to work well,” says Martín, who admits that sport has changed a lot since he and other specialists, such as Kilian Jornet and Mireia Miró, began to plant the seed of the current boom. «Spain has a long tradition. Now we have collected that inheritance of our mountain culture and we are a world power ».

To that tradition they grabbed Oriol Cardona and Anita Alonso From a very young age on a path that is not easy, full of uncertainty and disappointments to the definitive confirmation of the International Olympic Committee.

Studies, scholarships and illusions

Monachil Granada, Alonso was born virtually on snow. The mountain is a family legacy. His father, Gerardo ‘Yeti’ Alonso, was a ski guide and teacher in Sierra Nevada. «As a child, with the skiing in the background, I dreamed of going to an Olympic Games. Then I left him due to lack of budget and that dream disappeared, ”he tells ABC. He focused on the university and spent three years without competing until one day he signed up for a skimo race. His natural talent took her to the national team. Until the Olympic formalization compatible training with jobs as a mountain guide and alpine teacher to pay for expenses. «The last year that I combined both was already unsustainable. With 27 or 28 years, living away from home, I had to cover my expenses, and I couldn’t continue like this. The scholarships have changed our lives, ”he says. “We can dedicate ourselves to training with some peace of mind, although we have not become rich, of course.”

Cardona also worked by giving skiing classes and helping firefighters in forest campaigns when he already emerged in the World Cup. He grew up in Banyoles, far from skiing stations, but his parents instilled in him the love for the mountain and snow in La Molina, where they went practically every weekend. “At first I trained more adventurously, raising ridges and channels without thinking too much about the competition.” In addition, he completed it with trail and athletics races, two of his passions. «I had always dreamed of going to games, but always thinking about summer. I did not imagine that my sport would be within the Olympic program, ”he explains to this newspaper. When it happened, it was clear. He still remembers the emotion he felt when he learned. «I decided to focus one hundred percent on it to look for a good result. Everything else went to the background ».

The two skiers have another big appointment this week in the world championships, which are held in the Swiss town of Morgins. Another level test to examine their abilities to their most direct, usually French and Italian rivals. “For the games there are only two places by gender, and we want to give an environment of tranquility and security to the skiers so that they only focus on competing,” explains the coach on the strategic plan to the games. «We are working hard to get something historical. I live it with daily emotion ».

The skimo entered the Olympic program as an additional sport. Official clearly, but subject to a subsequent review to certify its continuity. The protagonists assume that they will continue in the 2030 edition, in the French Alps. They even have some more evidence to the three that will be released next year. But the great goal is to also stay at Salt Lake City 2034, a place of little tradition. If it is achieved, mountain skiing will already be a member of the full -right Olympic calendar.

“Personally, I would like the individual modality to end also entering, because it is the essence of this sport: out of tracks, virgin snow, edges … The sprint is very colorful for the public, but does not completely show what this sport means,” Alonso analyzes. «When I started, the mountain ski was wilder: we climbed channels and ridges to explore the high mountain. Now we train more on clues and with very specific methods, ”Cardona corroborates. Both are proud of the Olympic jump of their sport, but do not want to be lost what makes it especially. “Sometimes, when you upload a peak, I feel that I am very fortunate for having had a family that instilled this passion,” says Granada.

Eleven months after the games, Alonso and Cardona, together and separately, they cannot stop thinking about what comes ahead. “I am clear that if I go to the games it is to aspire to a medal,” says the Andalusian.

“Of course, I am excited to fight for gold,” he says, to finish, his Catalan partner. «But I do not consider whether it would be the second or third winter medal for Spain. It motivates me to win a medal, point ».