While traditional mountaineering goals would take too long to complete for inclusion in the Winter Olympic Games, ski mountaineering, on the other hand, is not. The International Olympic Committee Executive Board announced this week that they would be including ski mountaineering in the 2020 Winter Youth Olympic Games Lausanne.

The committee’s inclusion of the sport is designed to create a well-rounded sports lineup that includes more female athletes. It should also aggregate more innovative content to draw more views to the games, which will be the third edition of the Winter Youth Games.

Gender equality is a hot topic, and with the Buenos Aires strategy for the Winter Olympic Games of 2018 where various female and mixed sports were merged into the lineup, Laussane is following suit. The 2020 Youth Olympics is facilitating the growth of the lineup with as many sports as possible.

The plans to house the additional athletes (1880 total) includes limiting the stay to two nights in the Olympic Village, opening the door for the second wave of athletes to come, compete and utilize the facilities as well.

The category will include sprint and relay exercises for 17-18-year-old competitors and comes in as the eighth sport for the games.

The plans for gender-friendly competitions will include a mixed-National Olympic Committee 3×3 ice hockey tournament, a women’s doubles event in luge, and the introduction of Nordic combined for women.