In Alpine skiing, the difference between racing for gold in the Winter Olympics and watching the competition on television can come down to a few hundredths of a second. For Waitsfield slalom skier Ben Ritchie, it was 10 days that made all the difference in the world.
In a January 28 story titled “Pedal to the Medal: Meet the Vermont-Connected Olympians Who Are Going for Gold at the 2026 Winter Games,” Seven Days erroneously reported that Ritchie, 25, a Williston native who trained at Green Mountain Valley School, was headed to Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy. Specifically, he was angling to compete in the men’s slalom and possibly the men’s combined.
Alas, it wasn’t to be. The U.S. Ski & Snowboard Team only considers the current 2025-26 season for American athletes to qualify for the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympics. According a spokesperson for the U.S. Ski & Snowboard Team, Ritchie did not qualify under its criteria window, which ran from the start of this season, in October, until January 18, “and unfortunately, Ben did not finish any of those races up until that point.”
Unlike the U.S. team, the International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS), the sport’s international governing body, considers an athlete’s total results over two winter seasons (2024–25 and 2025–26) to determine Olympic eligibility. Its deadline was January 28. Other countries with powerhouse ski teams, including Canada, Austria and Norway, also consider two seasons.
After a solid season last year, Ritchie struggled this season with a nagging knee injury. But by January 28, he was returning to form. Ten days after the U.S. team’s deadline, Ritchie finished 13th in the night slalom in Schladming, Austria. In fact, he skied the second-fastest second run, which moved him up from 30th place. That top-15 finish followed another the previous weekend in Kitzbühel, Austria, and would have qualified him for the Olympics under FIS rules — but not, unfortunately, the U.S. Ski & Snowboard Team’s.
To date, the U.S. team has yet to say which athletes, if any, will compete in slalom.
Ritchie’s family is clearly disappointed but declined to comment publicly, saying only that the setback will just drive Ritchie harder. As he told the Stifel U.S. Ski Team’s Sierra Ryder after his race in Schladming, “It felt good to make some good turns. With one race left in the season I am going to keep pushing.”
