The Milano-Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games will feature a brush of the North East and Alpine region, with prolific skier Phil Bellingham lining up for his fourth time at the top level.

A Mount Beauty native, born and bred in the snowfields, Bellingham is part of the 53-strong Australian brigade heading to Italy to vie for Olympic gold from 6-22 February.

Bellingham is an experienced campaigner, having represented his nation at the Olympics on three other occasions.

At Sochi 2014, PyeongChang 2018, and Beijing 2022, Bellingham competed in cross country skiing, but in Italy, he will take a different approach as he enters into the gruelling and rapid crucible of ski mountaineering.

Ski mountaineering makes its Olympic debut at Milano-Cortina 2026, meaning Bellingham will be one of the first athletes to feature in the sport at the Olympic level.

The discipline, also known as skimo, features competitors ascending a mountain course, on skis and then by foot, to a summit, before racing down to the finish line, with races taking around three minutes to complete.

Bellingham took up the discipline after the Beijing Games, and has rapidly shot up the ranks.

He then generated career‑best World Cup performances, including 41st in the sprint at Shahdag in Azerbaijan, and finishing within the top 50 at Boí Taüll, Spain.

He capped the winter with 48th at the World Championships in Morgins, and was recognised as Snow Australia’s Ski Mountaineering Male Athlete of the Year in 2025.

Back in Australia in August 2025, Phil was prominent throughout the Cross-Country domestic season.

He won the Perisher sprint freestyle on 1 August, took second in the 15km classic the following day, and ended the series as runner‑up overall in the 2025 Australia–New Zealand Continental Cup to Seve de Campo.

He also claimed a crowd‑pleasing win at his local 42km Kangaroo Hoppet at Falls Creek, outsprinting de Campo to the line.

Across November and December, he competed in four Cross-Country World Cups across the sprint, 10km and 20 km distances.

In January, he switched back to racing Ski Mountaineering World Cups - at Courchevel in France he placed 52nd in the sprint and 71st in the vertical race.

The Milano-Cortino 2026 Winter Olympic games commence from 6 February, with the first of the skimo events, the sprints, commencing from Thursday, 19 February.

Olympian Profile - Phil Bellingham

Age: 34

Place of Birth: Mount Beauty, VIC

Hometown: Mount Beauty

Junior Club: Birkebeiner Nordic Ski Club

Senior Club: Birkebeiner Nordic Ski Club Australia/Falls Creek

Coach: Mattias Nilsson

Olympic History: Sochi 2014, PyeongChang 2018, Beijing 2022, Milano Cortina 2026.

High School: Mount Beauty Secondary College

Career Events: 15km Classic – Men; 50km Freestyle Mass Start – Men; Cross-Country Skiing Men's 15km Classic; Cross-Country Skiing Men's 50km Free Mass Start; Cross-Country Skiing Men's Skiathlon 15km Classic + 15km Free; Cross-Country Skiing Men's Team Sprint Classic; Cross-Country Skiing Men’s Sprint Free; Sprint Freestyle – Men; Team Sprint Classic – Men.