U.S. alpine ski racing’s $500,000-per-kid problem

The problem with U.S. alpine skiing at the Beijing Olympics isn’t that Mikaela Shiffrin didn’t win an individual medal. The problem is that she was the only U.S. skier expected to win one.  

Entering Saturday’s mixed team parallel event — a newer discipline that some top alpine nations don’t take seriously — the U.S. medal total sits at one: Ryan Cochran-Siegle’s surprise silver medal in the super G. That’s the U.S. alpine ski team’s lowest total since 1998, when it also had one medal.

The future could be bleaker than that. In recent years, the U.S. alpine racing pipeline has been threatened by a daunting force: a ballooning price tag. 

The total cost for a junior ski racing career can top $500,000, according to a 2019 survey by U.S. Ski & Snowboard of ski clubs, academies and colleges. That total includes everything from ski camps and academy tuition to more-specialized equipment and racing fees. 

Former ski racers and parents are sounding the alarm as they watch the sport’s shift toward the extremely wealthy. 

“We’re going to run into trouble as a country,” said Andrew Weibrecht, a U.S. Olympic medalist in the super G in 2010 and 2014 who recently became active in skiing governance because of his concerns about rising costs. “The pool is going to become so shallow that it’s going to become difficult to find the most talented athletes.”

In response to emailed questions, Sophie Goldschmidt, President and CEO of U.S. Ski & Snowboard acknowledged, “Cost is an issue for attracting and retaining athletic talent, and we need to continue to find ways to keep costs down in this country. Without government funding in these sports our athletes are reliant on the support of donors, sponsors, clubs, resort partners, volunteers and our larger sport community to make it possible to pursue their dreams.”