Singapore Alpine skier Faiz Basha’s Winter Olympic races to be streamed live on YouTube

SINGAPORE – Fans in Singapore hoping to catch national Alpine skier Faiz Basha’s races live at the Winter Olympics in Italy can do so on the Age of Sports’ YouTube channel.

The YouTube-based broadcaster holds the rights for the Feb 6-22 Milano Cortina Winter Games in the following countries: Singapore, Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines and Uzbekistan.

On Feb 14, Faiz, who is Singapore’s first snow sports athlete at the Games, will compete in the giant slalom at the Stelvio Ski Centre in Bormio, followed by the slalom two days later.

The 23-year-old is Singapore’s second representative at the quadrennial event, after short track speed skater Cheyenne Goh, who participated in the 2018 edition.

In response to queries from The Straits Times on its coverage for the ongoing Games, national broadcaster Mediacorp confirmed on Feb 13 that it will not be showing Faiz’s races live.

It is listed as an official media rights holder on the International Olympic Committee’s website, alongside the Age of Sports.

A spokesperson said Mediacorp’s coverage includes live broadcasts of the opening and closing ceremonies on digital entertainment service mewatch and Channel 5, as well as a daily highlights programme on mewatch.

Fans can also get the latest updates and key moments, including Faiz’s performance, across Mediacorp Sports’ social platform on TikTok, Instagram and Facebook, the Mediacorp Entertainment YouTube Channel and news platforms, added the broadcaster.

At the previous edition of the Beijing Winter Olympics in 2022, there was live streaming of events on Singtel and StarHub’s channels, as well as mewatch.

When asked about the primary considerations behind the programming decisions for the 2026 Games, Mediacorp’s spokesperson said: “This programming plan is guided by a combination of factors, including time-zone differences, audience viewing preferences in Singapore and content availability on other platforms.”

Na Kok Peng, director of Singapore Ski & Snowboard Academy, was relieved to hear that there will be live coverage of Faiz’s events here, as he had planned to host a watch party for the skier’s races at its Suntec City outlet.

He had been trying to find solutions after learning that Mediacorp would not be showing Faiz’s races live.

“The whole watch party is to cheer Faiz on, so obviously we hoped to be able to live-stream his event when it was happening,” he said.

“It was quite a challenge and we were worried that we wouldn’t be able to do the live stream and it would be a disappointment for everyone.

“Now that it’s resolved, we are really looking forward to it.”

The academy, which offers ski and snowboard lessons on its indoor ski simulators, is one of Faiz’s sponsors and provides him with monetary support and a training venue whenever the Switzerland-based athlete is back in Singapore.

With Faiz’s historic appearance at the Games, Na wanted to host the watch party so that more people could come together to watch him compete.

He said: “This is the first time Singapore has a Winter Olympic athlete participating in an event like giant slalom, so it’s really an exciting moment and time for Singapore ski and snowboard community and sports as a whole.

“We really wanted to celebrate this special moment with like-minded friends, family, customers, who want to cheer on Faiz together and we thought it would be nice, rather than everyone watching on their own.”

Those who are interested to attend the watch party can register their interest

here

.