Cam Smith charges into the 2026 Winter Olympics

“Now that we won a World Cup race, we’re going there to hunt for medals”

By Than Acuff

It ultimately came down to one race and Crested Butte resident, Dynafit athlete and U.S. Ski Mountaineering (skimo) Team member Cam Smith, along with mixed relay race partner Anna Gibson, made the most of it as they punched their ticket to the 2026 Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics to compete in the skimo sprint and mixed relay races.

When he was a freshman at Western Colorado University, Smith first tested the frozen waters of skimo racing at COSMIC Cup series races at both Irwin and Crested Butte Mountain Resort back in 2014 to prepare for the Grand Traverse race in the spring of 2015. Over the next several years he continued to hone his skimo craft, climbing the local ranks of heavy hitters as well as making a name for himself on the National racing circuit racking up Grand Traverse and Gothic Mountain Tour titles and competing in the Skimo World Championships in 2017 in the u23 category.

Then, in 2018, he went a bit deeper into the European race circuit to really test the waters and found the pool very, very deep.

“I went over to Europe and went back to being in last place again,” says Smith.

But just as he had done when he first started in the sport, he remained committed to getting better. The 2020 World Cup circuit was cut short due to COVID, he opted out of the scene in 2021 and then in 2022 he recorded his first World Cup podium when he took third in an uphill race in Andorra and remained in Europe to compete on the skimo World Cup circuit.

The next two seasons were tough as both seasons were marred by injuries but when skimo racing was named an Olympic sport, Smith’s goal came into focus: to represent the U.S. in the Olympic Games. And he finished the season the top ranked U.S. male skimo athlete.

“My result in 2022 showed I was competitive, so I spent last year focused on the Olympic qualification process,” says Smith.

But there remained an additional hurdle. First, because it is a new Olympic sport, entries are limited with precedence going to European countries. As a result, both Canada and the U.S. had to compete for one spot at the Olympic Games for all of North America.

Therefore, it came down to one last U.S. skimo team time trial to decide who would compete for the U.S. at the opening World Cup race at Solitude Ski Resort in Utah. It was there that Smith also found out who his mixed relay partner would be in Utah as Gibson, from Jackson Hole and new to the sport of skimo racing, also made a statement.

“The U.S. Ski Team decided me and Anna are the team they were going to get behind,” says Smith.

Fast forward to the big event, the opening skimo World Cup race of the season at Solitude December 6-7 opening with the mixed relay race, the race that would decide who would go to the Olympics from North America. And while a lot was on the line, Smith continued a mantra that has served him the past couple of years.

“We knew 30 minutes on December 6 would determine our fate,” says Smith. “But I’ve always thought, expect nothing but prepare for everything.”

The race format is as such. The women start first with a climb, then a descent, a second climb with a boot pack section and then a second descent before tagging off to their male partner. Each partner does the course twice.

Because Gibson and Smith won the qualifier race, Gibson was in the first line of 12 skiers when she started but soon fell back to sixth place and when she tagged off to Smith, they were in third place with Canada out front. Smith continued to push as Canada started to drop and when Smith headed out for the second loop on his first lap, he took over the lead of the race with a quick transition back into climbing.

“I put on the afterburners,” says Smith.

Smith built a sizeable gap over his closest competitor, Italy, during his second loop and tagged off to Gibson for her second lap. Gibson built on Team USA’s lead throughout her second lap and when she tagged off to Smith for the final time, it was all but a done deal and Smith knew it as he started rallying the hometown crowd at the start of his final lap, a victory lap of sorts.

“I knew if she tagged off with us in first, no one was going to catch us,” says Smith.

Smith remained on task charging his way round the course on both loops with the only hiccup at the end. As he made one last transition for the 50-yard climb to the finish line, his ski shot off in front of him. But with such a big lead, Smith was able to calmly put his ski back on and cruise across the finish for the win with a 50 second lead ahead of second place Italy and secured a spot at the Olympics. Smith admits that it didn’t really sink in what had just happened until the podium ceremony.

“When I heard the National Anthem, that’s when I realized what happened,” says Smith. “I was on home soil with everybody singing with us. We couldn’t have planned it any better.”

And while beating Canada meant he is going to the Olympics, winning the race now has him and Gibson thinking even bigger. Smith admits he just wanted to make it into the Olympics and maybe beat one or two teams, but now, expectations are a bit different.

“We were just focused on racing the best we could, and it turned into a win,” says Smith. “Now that we won a World Cup race, we’re going there to hunt for medals.”

Smith will take the next two weeks to ski around Crested Butte and enjoy the moment before he clicks back into race mode with three World Cup races starting back up in January leading up to the Olympic Games February 6-22. Smith will compete in the sprint race on February 19 and Smith and Gibson then line up for the mixed relay on February 21.

While there’s still plenty to do, Smith is also using this time to recall everyone that helped him along the way to get him to this point.

“If it wasn’t for the Western Mountain Sports Team program and Team GO providing the infrastructure to race in the beginning, I never would have had this opportunity,” says Smith. “Everyone gave me the gear to get started and just kind of took on this random freshman from the Midwest. And I’m not the first one from here. Susan DeMattei competed in the Olympics the first year mountain biking was in and won a bronze medal. Emma Coburn has been there, Ingrid (Butts), Aaron Blunck. There’s a lot of cool local Olympic history.”