New Delhi: A lot has changed for Arif Khan on a personal front since the last Winter Olympics in Beijing where he was the lone Indian contestant. Reality check apart — Arif was 45th in Giant Slalom (GS) and couldn’t finish the race in Slalom — he got married, became a dad, and saw his younger brother grow into an international snowboarder.
Professionally though, things have remained in a frustrating stalemate. He still laments the non-existent infrastructure at home, wishes for quality competition, and yearns for international exposure. Last year, India’s ace skier started a crowdfunding campaign to fuel his Olympic dream but fell way short.
“It takes a minimum of 80,000 euros a season to prepare for an event like the Olympics considering the cost of equipment, travel and logistics. I managed around 5000 euros through crowdfunding,” Arif said from the north Italian town of Bormio, about 200 kilometres from Milan where he is training for the Games.
The men’s alpine skiing races at Milano Cortina 2026 will be held in Bormio’s Stelvio Ski Centre and Arif will be in action on February 16.
“Meeting the costs was the biggest challenge. Winter sports aren’t cheap. JSW covered 30 percent of my cost, I got about 4000 euros from another organisation and some help from an IOC scholarship. SAI sanctioned a 63-day overseas camp. So somehow, here I am,” he said.
Arif enters his second successive Olympics hoping to better his Beijing returns and end his international career on a high — the 2026 Winter Games will be his swansong.
“It will be my last Olympics. I plan to retire after this and take up administrative duties in Ski and Snowboard India (SSI) to help put proper systems and structures in place,” he informed.
Unlike Beijing where Arif turned out in two events, the 2026 iteration will see him competing only in Slalom, an event he calls more technical and a touch slower than GS.
Arif endured a back injury — he had a disc bulge — after crashing in practice in Italy back in 2023 which meant his body couldn’t take the rigours of GS. Slalom is one of five alpine skiing events along with downhill, super G, GS and combined.
The Olympic quota in slalom was determined using the average of an athlete’s five best results between July 1, 2024 and January 18, 2026.
The athletes required to maintain an average of under 120 FIS points, calculated from their best five scores during the qualification period.
“Qualifying for the Olympics gave me immense satisfaction because the standards were pretty world class. A lot of European nations employ that standard and to make the automatic cut made me super happy,” he said.
Arif logged nine results below the 120-point threshold with seven of those performances coming at Ski Dubai in the Mall of the Emirates while the rest were recorded at Arieseni in Romania.
“I have been training or competing in Europe and Asia since October, and the difference in surface quality is simply astounding. No wonder we don’t get any quality skiers at home,” Arif said.
His tune-up also involved training in Italy’s Kronplatz Racing Centre where he was part of their 3Z Racing team. “It’s a centre where athletes from lesser-fancied winter sports nations that do not really have a team to train with turn up. For the first time, I trained with high-quality coaches and competitors.”
His foremost goal at the Olympics will be to finish inside the top 30 and “showcase my skills to the world.” “The Slalom event will see 90 athletes and to end within top 30 will be ideal. I want to end my international career with that result,” he said.
