Mike Woods retired in the fall of last year, but he certainly hasn’t been kicking back and relaxing on the couch. In fact, one of his continuing athletic ambitions has him aiming to return to the Olympics for a sport that’s not on two wheels.
Listeners of the Canadian Cycling Magazine Podcast will know that Woods has been enjoying ski mountaineering, or skimo for short, in his free time. Skimo is exactly what it sounds like; it involves getting yourself to the top of a mountain with your skis and then descending back down as quickly as possible. Athletes make use of skins that attach to the underside of their skis that add grip to allow them to climb uphill. They then rip the skins off, stow them away and ski down the mountain. In some cases, when they can run faster than they can skin, they’ll even pick up their skis and hoof it—a move reminiscent of cyclocross.
The sport is making its Olympic debut in Milano Cortina 2026. “This year will only have short course, which is far more technical than long course, which is what I’m going to be doing,” said Woods. “With the short course, you have to be really good at your transitions, transitioning from getting on and off the skis, something that I’ll need to work on if I want to be going forward in 2030.”
Short-course races are much shorter and take place on a smaller hill with artificial obstacles on the course, whereas long-course races typically involve going farther up a mountain and getting back down. Wood’s background in cycling is sure to be an advantage in the endurance aspect of the sport present in long-course races. Woods seriously considered the 2026 Olympics for skimo. However, with his WorldTour calendar in 2025, he wasn’t able to compete in the necessary qualifiers. With retirement, comes the time to target skimo events, as he looks to the 2030 Games where he hopes the long-course events will be included.
“I think skimo definitely belongs in the Olympics. It just makes sense to me in that it’s conquering a mountain and then seeing how fast you can get down it. And I think the long course would be really special to have in the Olympics in the future, just because to me it seems like it’s more of the pure version of skimo,” said Woods
Until then, Wood’s has plenty in store both on and off the bike. In the world of skimo, he plans to tackle the Andorra Skimo Challenge with former pro cyclist Amund Jansen. Woods describes the event as gran fondo-like in its…
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