Staying patient gets S’pore alpine skier Faiz Basha closer to Winter Olympics berth

SINGAPORE – Singaporean alpine skier Faiz Basha can hit speeds of up to 140kmh as he descends steep, snow-covered slopes while navigating sharp turns on the courses.

However, in a sport driven by speed, the biggest lesson that skiing has taught the 23-year-old is the value of patience, a trait that has helped him keep his Winter Olympic dream alive amid setbacks.

Five years ago, his hopes of qualifying for the 2020 Lausanne Winter Youth Olympics were shattered after a crash during a competition left him with a tear in his intestines – the accident nearly caused him to walk away from the sport.

His hunt for a spot at the 2022 Beijing Winter Games was paused by national service commitments.

Yet, he persevered and in January, Faiz moved a step closer to his goal, meeting the minimum qualification criteria for the slalom event at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo.

Looking back on the journey, he said: “When you’re in school, you do things and you get the results very fast but for skiing, it takes a lot more patience.

“It takes years and sometimes, you don’t see the results until the following season. It’s a really holistic bigger picture which I can see in terms of personal development and patience.”

He was speaking to The Straits Times on the sidelines of an event at the Singapore Ski and Snowboard Academy at Marina Square, where he conducted a sharing session during a short trip back home.

The Singapore Ski and Snowboard Association (SSSA) still needs to complete its “validation and selection process” to ensure that he meets its eligibility and selection criteria, before submitting the nomination to the Singapore National Olympic Council for approval ahead of the 2026 Winter Games in Italy.

Faiz will be the first Singaporean athlete to compete in alpine skiing at the Winter Olympics, if he earns the nod. Before this, the Republic was represented only once at the quadrennial event, when short track speed skater Cheyenne Goh competed at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games.

After years of slogging, the 2025 season kicked off in the best way for Faiz, when his performance at the FIS (International Ski Federation) Val Palot alpine skiing competition in Italy in January pushed him past the qualifying threshold.

To compete in the slalom or giant slalom events at the Winter Games, athletes must obtain an average of fewer than 120 points across their top five results on the Olympic FIS points list within the qualification window from July 1, 2024, to Jan 18, 2026.

Faiz made the grade after scoring an average of 106.59 points, becoming the first skier from Singapore to meet the Games qualifying mark.

There will be a total of five men and women’s alpine skiing events at the 2026 Olympics: slalom, giant slalom, super-G, downhill and team combined. Slalom involves skiing between poles or gates on a downhill course, with the slalom the shortest course of the disciplines with the tightest turns, while the giant slalom has looser turns and a wider distance between gates.

In these two technical events, skiers race two time trials of the course, with the fastest total time determining the winner.

Faiz’s skiing journey began at just three years old, when his parents introduced him to the sport after relocating to Switzerland for his father’s work posting.

At first, skiing was a way to stay active and win medals for his school. But that changed when he was about 14, when his coach first floated the idea of aiming for the Winter Youth Olympics.

Years on, finally making the cut for the 2026 Winter Olympics was surreal for Faiz. He said: “It’s a big rethinking of my whole life because since I was a kid, I was always dreaming that I want to be able to qualify for one of these big events.

“I’ve had so many obstacles in my path and it’s like I finally got it. When I got home from that, I started to rethink what my targets are from here and how much further I can go and I’m still figuring out what’s next.”

The mechanical engineering undergraduate at the University of Strathclyde has also notched several other milestones in 2025.

He was the first Singaporean snow sports athlete to compete in the International University Sports Federation Winter Games, finished as the top-ranked South-east Asian athlete (12th) at the Asian Winter Games and became the first Singaporean to reach the finals at the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships.

Before his semester begins in September, he will head to Ushuaia, Argentina, for a one-month training camp. Following that, he will compete in Patagonia in an attempt to meet the qualifying criteria for the giant slalom event.

From December, Faiz, whose training base is near Milan, will then ramp up preparations for the Olympics.

He said: “I’ve had a lot of hurdles to cross, so the past few years have really been catching up and I still think I’m catching up right now... I just want to get a decent result, maybe top 40, 50, I’d be happy with that.

“For me, the bigger picture would be to peak for the 2029 Asian Games and 2030 Olympics. These Asian Games I got 12th place and with another Olympic cycle, four more years of training, I can do a lot more.”

SSSA president Marco Bardelli said that athletes like Faiz are key to growing Singapore’s talent pool, noting that it is challenging to find competitive skiers in a tropical country.

Another Singaporean athlete, Morgan Celley, 18, is also trying to qualify for the Winter Games.

Bardelli said: “Having athletes like Faiz – who are starting to make people around the world realise that we have a ski association and that talented Singaporean skiers can participate in events – will be helpful in finding other Faizs.

“We are in touch with other families and Singaporeans who have young Faizs, and that will help us build a team.”