By Marleen Kaesebier BORMIO, Italy, Feb 22 (Reuters) - Milano Cortina's only new Olympic sport, ski mountaineering, might have debuted in a snowstorm in Bormio, but the races went smoothly with lively crowds,

SPAIN'S Oriol Cardona Coll won the first-ever Olympic gold medal in the men's ski mountaineering sprint at the Winter Games in Milan Cortina on Thursday -

Oriol Cardona Coll won Spain's first Winter Olympics gold medal for 54 years as he claimed victory in the men's sprint in the inaugural ski mountaineering event on Thursday.

BORMIO, Italy (AP) — The steepest hill ski mountaineering athlete Ana Alonso Rodriguez had to climb on her way to an Olympic bronze medal involved no course at all. No snow or competitors, either. Just trusting in herself,

The Winter Olympic debut of ski mountaineering meets a frosty conclusion as Americans Cam Smith and Anna Gibson take on a field of the best mixed relay racers in the world.

Now, to be fair, the version of skimo we saw in the Olympics—skimo sprint—is a bastardized version of the sport. Skimo events can last for hours, involve traversing entire mountains, and test the limits of an athlete’s endurance—not just their skill at stripping and stowing their gear. Look at this clip from a skimo World Cup race: