Almost take top off European sports accessory (3,4)

I believe the answer is:

ski pole

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'accessory' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both man-made objects as well as being singular nouns.
Maybe there's an association between them I don't understand?

'almost take top off european sports' is the wordplay.
'almost' means to remove the last letter (most of the word but not all of it).
'take' becomes 'skim' (skimming is a kind of taking).
'top off european sports' becomes 'pole' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'skim' with its last letter taken away is 'ski'.
'ski'+'pole'='SKI POLE'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for ski pole that I've seen before include "helping staff" , "Stock" , "support on the run" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.

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