"Khan had perhaps already surpassed expectations by appearing at the Games at all. He learned how to ski in mountains of Gulmarg, a resort town in the Western Himalayas, where his dad runs a ski equipment store. He started skiing as a 4-year-old, hiking up the ungroomed slopes to ski down them. Inadequate funding, coaching, infrastructure, and political turmoil in the region have all complicated his athletic pursuits, he told Al Jazeera in 2022."
"You do not often hear an Olympian's ambitions summarized as "make it to the finish line." Time to consult the 2022 men's slalom results to see if Khan had in fact achieved his goal: Damn. How about men's giant slalom, which had 46 competitors finish the race? OK, that's better. Granted, slalom disciplines are challenging enough in their design that finishing the race without missing a gate is a feat unto itself."
India sent only two athletes to the Winter Olympics, both skiers. Arif Mohammad Khan is an alpine skier from Kashmir. Khan's expectation in Beijing was to ski and make it to the finish line, and he later set his sights on the 2026 Olympics. Khan learned to ski in the mountains of Gulmarg, where his father runs a ski equipment store. He began skiing at age four, hiking ungroomed slopes to descend them. Inadequate funding, coaching, infrastructure, and regional political turmoil complicated his athletic pursuits. He entered Milan Cortina competing only in men's slalom amid adverse conditions.
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