Catalan Pyrenees resort to host ski mountaineering World Cup

The Boí Taüll ski resort in the Catalan Pyrenees will host the ski mountaineering World Cup this weekend, February 1 and 2. 

Sprint and Mixed Relay events will form part of the qualification series for the first Olympic games to feature the sport in 2026 in Milano Cortina. 

This competition is organized "under the parameters of sustainability, economic and social returns," the Catalan minister of sports Berni Álvarez Merino, said in a press conference on Monday, "taking into account how it affects inhabitants." 

"It is important that the whole Catalan territory can benefit from events like this," he added. 

This year, out of 11 members of the Spanish ski mountaineering team, 8 of them are Catalan, including favorites Oriol Cardona and Marta Gracia. 

Mountain skier Laia Sellés, 18 years old, explained her sport to Catalan News.  

"You need to be so focused to do the transitions fast, and you need to be fast in the uphill and be good in the downhill. So, you need to be good at everything," she said. 

With the Olympics in mind, Laia Sellés said she wanted to "learn a lot" from "competing with the best of the world" of her discipline.  

Carles Ruiz Novella, the president of FGC, the public company that runs the resort, said the competition will "be a success for the public" as much as a "successful sporting event," stressing the international reputation of the ski resort. 

In 2023, Boí Taüll hosted a World Cup event with 298 athletes from 27 different countries competing.