A brand new Olympic sport, ski mountaineering, will debut at the Milan Cortina Games

The Milan Cortina Winter Olympics will debut a new sport next month: Ski mountaineering, which combines uphill sprinting (on boots and on skis) and downhill skiing. Although the sport on the global stage is relatively new, it does have roots dating to the late 19th century. Backcountry winter sports have grown in popularity and there is anecdotal evidence that they saw a surge in participation during the pandemic.

Something to know about skimo: It's fast, with sprint races lasting about 3 minutes.

Ski mountaineering will have men's and women's sprint events along with a mixed relay.

The race works like this: The racers sprint uphill with skins on the bottom of their skis. A skin is a strip of material that allows for traction going uphill. They then run a section in boots before putting their skis back on to traverse another uphill section. Once at the top, they take the skins off and race downhill. In the men's and women's sprint-event format, there will be a qualifying round where 18 racers qualify over three heats. The top three athletes in each heat advance to the semifinals along with three others based on time. In the semifinal rounds, two advance along with two more “lucky losers," which sets up the race for medals. The mixed relay consists of one female and one male racer from each country. Each will complete two ascents and descents. The female athlete begins, then tags her male teammate for the switch. The team that completes all four laps first wins gold.

The current ski mountaineering sprint champions are Swiss racer Marianne Fatton and Spain's Oriol Cardona Coll. Another favorite is France's Emily Harrop, who won the test event at the venue last winter ahead of Fatton. Coll won the men's event ahead of Swiss racers Jon Kistler and Arno Lietha. In the mixed relay event, Coll partnered with Ana Alonso Rodriguez for the win. Harrop and Thibault Anselmet were second. Rodriguez said in October she was hit by a car while cycling, tearing knee ligaments, hoping to heal in time. The U.S. earned an Olympic spot in the mixed relay thanks to a World Cup victory from Anna Gibson and Cam Smith.

The races will be staged in Bormio at the Stelvio Ski Center, with the men's and women's sprint events taking place on Feb. 19. The mixed relay competition takes place two days later.

The medal winners will be the first in their sport at the Olympics.

There are penalties in the race for things such as disrespectful behavior, unsportsmanlike conduct, technical errors and equipment that’s missing. The penalties range from a disqualification to adding time. The first ski mountaineering world championships were held in France in 2002. The sport is presided over by the International Ski Mountaineering Federation (ISMF), representing roughly 55 national federations across five continents. Ski mountaineering was part of the 2020 Winter Youth Olympics in Lausanne. The sport is proposed for the 2030 Winter Games in the French Alps.

AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics

FILE - Athletes compete during the women's mixed relay race at the Ski Mountaineering World Cup event in Bormio, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni, File)

FILE - Athletes compete during the men's sprint race at the Ski Mountaineering World Cup event in Bormio, Italy, Saturday, Feb. 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni, File)

FILE - United States' Kelly Wolf competes during the women's mixed relay race at the Ski Mountaineering World Cup event in Bormio, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni, File)

FILE - Athletes compete during the women's sprint race at the Ski Mountaineering World Cup event in Bormio, Italy, Saturday, Feb. 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni, file)

FILE - An athlete competes during the women's sprint race at the Ski Mountaineering World Cup event in Bormio, Italy, Saturday, Feb. 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s White House ballroom won final approval from a key agency on Thursday, despite a federal judge recently ordering a halt to construction unless Congress allows what would be the biggest structural change to the American landmark in more than 70 years.

The 12-member National Capital Planning Commission, the agency tasked with approving construction on federal property in the Washington region, went ahead with the vote because U.S. District Judge Richard Leon’s ruling — which came two days earlier — affects construction activities but not the planning process, said the commission's Trump-appointed chair, Will Scharf.

A vote of 8-1, with two commissioners voting present and one absent, allowed the plan to move forward.

Despite the agency’s approval, however, the judge’s ruling and a legal fight over the ballroom could stall progress on a legacy project that Trump is racing to see completed before the end of his term in early 2029. It’s among a series of changes the Republican president is planning for the nation’s capital to leave his lasting imprint while he’s still in office.

Before the vote, Scharf, a top White House aide, noted that Leon's order has been stayed for two weeks as the administration seeks an appeal. He said, as he understood the decision, it “really does not impact our action here today.”

Reading from notes, Scharf also delivered an impassioned defense of the project that reviewed the full history of the White House — including changes and additions that were criticized at the time they were made but have become beloved with the passage of time. He spoke about the addition of the north and south porticos and the balcony added by President Harry Truman.

Scharf suggested that Trump’s proposed ballroom will similarly come to be viewed as a wise addition — despite drawing contemporary opposition from some members of the public and government officials.

“I believe that, in time, this ballroom will be considered every bit of a national treasure as the other key components of the White House,” Scharf said.

Scharf also said the proposed ballroom has been viewed negatively because of opposition to Trump, instead of the merits, saying, “I feel that we’ve been unfairly slighted in the press and otherwise for the way we’ve gone about reviewing this particular project.”

The vote by the commission, which includes three members Trump gets to appoint, had initially been scheduled for March but was postponed to Thursday because so many people signed up to comment at the commission’s meeting last month. The comments were overwhelmingly opposed to the ballroom.

The lone “no” vote was cast by Phil Mendelson, a Democrat who chairs the Council of the District of Columbia. Linda Argo and Arrington Dixon, the two commissioners appointed by Mayor Muriel Bowser, a Democrat, voted present.

Mendelson criticized the design of the ballroom addition and how fast it was approved.

“It’s just too large,” he said.

Criticism also came from Public Citizen, a nonprofit consumer advocacy organization. One of its attorneys, Jon Golinger, said the commission had discounted opposition from city officials and thousands of people who commented against the project, and ignored the judge's ruling. Several commissioners, including Scharf, had said they took the public feedback seriously.

“This approval is illegitimate and this vote is a joke," Golinger said.

White House spokesperson Davis Ingle, commended the “decision to approve President Trump’s historic vision to build a much need ballroom at the White House.”

“We look forward to seeing the completion of this project on time and under budget," Ingle said in a statement.

Before voting, the commission considered some design changes to the 90,000-square-foot (8,400-square-meter) ballroom addition that the president announced aboard Air Force One on Sunday, as he flew back to Washington from a weekend at his Florida home.

He removed a large staircase on the south side of the building and added an uncovered porch to the west side. Architects and other critics of the project had panned the staircase as too large and basically useless since there was no way to enter the ballroom at the top.

A White House official said the president had considered comments from the National Capital Planning Commission and another oversight entity, the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, which approved the project earlier this year, as well as members of the public.

The official, who was not authorized to publicly discuss the ballroom design and spoke on the condition of anonymity, said that additional “refinements” had been made to the building’s exterior.

The ballroom, now estimated to cost $400 million, has expanded in scope and price tag since Trump first announced the project last summer, citing a need for space other than a tent on the lawn to host important guests. Trump demolished the East Wing in October with little warning, and site preparation and underground work have been underway since then.

Two other Trump-appointed commissioners, Stuart Levenbach and James Blair, voted for the project.

Levenbach, who serves as vice chairman and is the federal government’s chief statistician, said the White House is currently “not suited” to accommodate large numbers of guests and that the addition will improve the “utility” of the compound.

He said tunnels and other structures underground at the White House made it impossible to place many features of the ballroom there, too, as some have suggested might be possible. Levenbach said the addition is a “multipurpose facility,” noting that, in addition to a ballroom, it will also have offices for the first lady, kitchen space and a theater.

“This is not an expansion for its own sake,” Levenbach said.

Blair, a deputy to White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, said visitors and guests of the president deserve a “better experience."

Scharf and Blair also said Trump will get “very limited use” of the ballroom before his term ends.

Trump went ahead with the project before seeking input from the National Capital Planning Commission and the Commission of Fine Arts, which he reconstituted with allies and supporters.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation, a private nonprofit organization, sued after Trump demolished the East Wing last fall to build the ballroom addition — a space nearly twice as big as the mansion itself.

Trump says it will be paid for with donations from wealthy people and corporations, including him, though public dollars are paying for underground bunkers and security upgrades.

The trust sought a temporary halt to construction until Trump presented the project to both commissions and Congress for approval. Leon agreed but said that his order would take effect in two weeks and that construction related to security would be allowed.

President Donald Trump answers questions from reporters after signing an executive order in the Oval Office of the White House Tuesday, March 31, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Work continues on the construction of the ballroom at the White House in Washington, Wednesday, April 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Allison Robbert)

President Donald Trump holds a rendering of the proposed new East Wing of the White House as he speaks to reporters aboard Air Force One en route from West Palm Beach, Fla., to Joint Base Andrews, Md., Sunday, March 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

Work continues on the construction of the ballroom at the White House in Washington, Wednesday, April 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Allison Robbert)

President Donald Trump holds a rendering of the proposed new East Wing of the White House as he speaks to reporters aboard Air Force One en route from West Palm Beach, Fla., to Joint Base Andrews, Md., Sunday, March 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)