Swiss twins Thomas and Robin Bussard chase new high as SkiMo debuts in Milano Cortina

Thomas and Robin Bussard won gold and silver in ski mountaineering at the Youth Olympics six years ago and in February will be targeting new heights when their sport makes its senior debut at Milano Cortina.

The Swiss identical twins now anxiously await a January 8 decision to find out if their year of hard work will mean that one, both, or neither of them make the cut to represent their country.

Ski mountaineering, also called SkiMo, has its history rooted in alpine military patrolling. It features an uphill ascent both on skis with skins (added to the bottom of skis for better traction), on foot (called boot packing), and a downhill skiing descent.

Though the more classic individual races can take around two hours, it is the sprint races, which last around three minutes per heat, that have made the Olympic cut alongside mixed gender relays.

It was in the longer, individual race, which will not feature this February, that the Bussard brothers had their success in 2020.

This has meant adjusting their training since the Olympic announcement to focus more on sprint, by adding more strength training, for example.

COMPETING AS TWINS

Despite currently battling for the same Swiss quota spots, being twins competing together has a lot of advantages, Thomas says.

"When one of us is perhaps just a little bit down, the other is up, and that helps us to always maintain a fairly high level in what we do and then pull the other forward," he said.

Occasionally, being twins has its disadvantages, however, like at the Solitude World Cup in December, where Robin and Thomas found themselves in the same sprint heat and went on to finish in 13th and 25th place, respectively.

Their countryman Jon Kistler took first place.

"When we end up in the same heat, we don't want to knock each other out, and it affects us mentally, I think," Thomas said. "We still have to work on that side of things."

IDENTICAL BUT DIFFERENT STRENGTHS

Though identical, the twins' strengths do differ slightly.

Robin played a lot of soccer, which he says equipped him with more explosive power, helping him in sprint events, while Thomas has always had a small edge when it comes to endurance and the longer SkiMo events.

Though it has been nearly six years since Thomas crossed the finish line in first place followed directly by his twin at the Youth Olympics in Lausanne, Switzerland, it is still a high they are chasing.

"I think I've never experienced something that powerful again," Thomas said. "It was just incredible, and it really gives us the desire to relive something that strong again."

This can only happen with the Olympics, he added, saying that while ski mountaineering may not be on everyone's radar, at the Games, it will have that international stage again.

DREAMING AS ONE

Asked about their dream scenario for February, Robin said that the dream for now is to qualify, even if it is only one of the two brothers.

As one of the most successful countries in the sport, Switzerland faces tough competition within its team for the nation's four spots (two men, two women).

"We always say, even if only one of us is selected, it will benefit both of us, because the two of us are a team," Thomas said.

People likely won't even remember whether it was Robin or Thomas that was selected, he added.

"Of course, the other one will be there with the same nervousness before the race as if he were the one competing," Thomas said.

(Reporting by Denis Balibouse and Marleen Kaesebier Editing by Christian Radnedge)