Belgium at the 2026 Winter Olympics: Ski mountaineering
Belgium may not be a traditional winter sports nation, but it left the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing with two medals. It is looking to do even better at the 2026 Games in Milan-Cortina, with several disciplines offering realistic medal prospects. Today, Belga English looks at ski mountaineering athlete Maximilien Drion.
Ski mountaineering, or skimo, is a tactical and high-intensity discipline that combines uphill climbing and downhill skiing across challenging, snow-covered mountain terrain. Apart from the extreme physical requirements, contenders need nerves of steel to execute the transitions between climbing and skiing as swiftly as possible.
The sport will make its Olympic debut in February, with competitions set to take place in Bormio. Only the fast-paced and most spectacular version, the sprint race, was selected as an Olympic sport.
28-year-old Maximilien Drion – Drion du Chapois in full – will be one of the medal contenders in this discipline. Drion was born in Uccle and lives in Rixensart, Walloon Brabant, but he grew up in Vercorin, Switzerland, where he discovered the sport as a teenager.
“I want to fight for medals and make Belgium proud"
Because the competitions are in the mountains, he often stays with his parents in Switzerland, who still live there. “I’ve had Swiss nationality since 2016, but I’m 100 per cent Belgian,” he told Sporza.
In an interview with De Morgen, Drion underlined that ski mountaineering is a particularly demanding sport. “Both physically and mentally,” he said. “It involves a very intense effort and you need to be technically very strong.”
He secured his ticket to the Olympics back in the spring of 2025 and has never made a secret of his ambition for the Games. “I want to fight for medals and make Belgium proud,” he said. “I don’t mind the high expectations, because I have them myself.”
Early in December, Drion proved that these were no hollow words as he claimed bronze in the first World Cup sprint competition in Solitude, USA. He finished just behind the Swiss duo Jon Kistler and Arno Lietha.
“Third place in the Olympic discipline: my season couldn’t have started any better,” he said at the time. “There are still a few details that could be improved, but I’m already in good shape. My preparation has gone perfectly.”
Maximilien Drion in the men's sprint race at the ski mountaineering World Championships in Morgins, Switzerland, March 2025 © PHOTO FABRICE COFFRINI / AFP
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