Nordic Skiing, Ultrarunning Prepared David Sinclair To Take A Shot At A Lifelong Olympic Dream In Skimo

David Sinclair always dreamed of one day competing for Team USA at the Olympic Games.

Growing up on skis in Vermont, Sinclair crossed state lines into New Hampshire in 2010 to compete on the Nordic ski team for Dartmouth College. Upon graduating and realizing the Olympics were out of reach, Sinclair turned to ultrarunning to satisfy his competitive drive.

He never left Nordic skiing entirely, though, and in 2019, Sinclair moved to Norden, California, to coach the sport at the Sugar Bowl Resort, which is where he discovered ski mountaineering — where athletes race up a mountain on foot and then ski down it.

“I got a pair of skimo skis and just started doing it for fitness and fun,” said Sinclair, Ultra Running Magazine’s No. 3 men’s ultrarunner of 2024, “and jumped into some local races.”

Six years later, the 33-year-old Sinclair is working to help the U.S. earn a berth in the mixed relay event in the sport’s Olympic debut at Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026. While he didn’t compete in the relay at the world championships this season in Morgins, Switzerland, Sinclair finished 18th in the men’s individual race and 10th in the team race alongside Cameron Smith.

Skimo has turned out to be a sport that suits Sinclair’s skiing background and affinity for endurance running. He admits that there’s still a lot for him to improve on.

“I’m just really, really far behind on the transition side of the sport, which is really important for the short events,” he said. “I didn’t realize, getting into it, how important having really fast and smooth transitions were, and so that’s been the biggest challenge is learning the transitions, especially for the mixed relay.”

As Sinclair pointed out, competitors spend almost a quarter of their time on the racecourse doing transitions in the mixed relay. The races are over in minutes, compared to the hours of racing Sinclair had been accustomed to in ultrarunning — which he still competes in.

“I’m definitely working hard at the mixed relay,” he said. “It’s been a bit of an adjustment in training trying to do some of these. I’ve been trying to work on my power and speed a lot more than my endurance the last couple months.”

The goal is for the Americans to close the gap with the European competitors, who typically have many more years of experience in the sport.

“It’s very eye-opening that they’ve been doing it since they were teenagers, and they have so many more years’ practice,” Sinclair said. “We’re making up the ground. I think the really encouraging part is that because we’re so new, we have lots of room for improvement. It’s been mentally rewarding.”

Sinclair noted that he’s seen improvements each week and he enjoys the challenge of picking up a new sport in his early 30s.

Sinclair’s quest to make the Olympic team is more than a personal challenge. He also wants to raise awareness of skimo in the U.S. He hopes that emerging young American skimo athletes — who are now picking up the sport as teenagers, like Europeans often do — will one day take their places among the best in the world.

Perhaps more will join those ranks should the U.S. secure one of 12 available Olympic mixed relay slots.

Smith and Jessie Young have been leading the way; the duo finished 12th at the world championships.

“Right now, we’re just all trying to work together as team to all get better, push each other,” Sinclair said. “As a nation right now, all our energy focuses on becoming the best we can at the mixed relay because that’s the pathway that is realistic for us to qualify.”

Along the way, Sinclair is enjoying this unexpected opportunity to wear that red, white and blue uniform at an Olympic Games.

“It was my dream all through my teenage years to do my best and earn a spot to represent the U.S. at the Olympics,” he said. “I kind of hung up that dream in my early 20s. Just chasing that dream has been really rewarding.”

Bob Reinert spent 17 years writing sports for The Boston Globe. He also served as a sports information director at Saint Anselm College and Phillips Exeter Academy. He is a contributor to usaskimo.org on behalf of Red Line Editorial, Inc.