In alpine skiing, careers rarely follow straight lines. Few illustrate that truth more powerfully than the flowing curve of Christine Feehan.
Former coach, Ski Racing Media Editor-in-Chief, NCAA Media Coordinator, International Ski Federation (FIS) Staff, Olympic venue leader, and now co-founder of the World Women’s Snowsports Organization (WWSO), Feehan has lived nearly every side of the sport. Today, she is entering what she calls her “third act” not as a return, but as a reinvention with impact.
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From the Start Gate to the Big Picture
Feehan’s foundation was built on snow. She coached athletes from U14 through FIS levels at Sugar Bowl Academy and Killington Mountain School, with her most formative years spent at Burke Mountain Academy from 2006 to 2012. A winter in Norway with Heming Idrettslag broadened her understanding beyond the U.S. border. All of those seasons shaped her coaching philosophy and gave her a front row seat to the realities young athletes face as they navigate development, pressure, and opportunity.
But her curiosity stretched beyond the start gate.
She transitioned into the media and marketing side of the sport, becoming Editor-in-Chief at Ski Racing Media, producing freelance content for NBC, and later serving as FIS Media Coordinator on the Women’s World Cup. The move gave her a global lens on alpine skiing, revealing how storytelling, exposure, and presentation directly influence athlete visibility, fan engagement, and commercial growth at the top level of sport.
“Four years of traveling to every single stop on the women’s World Cup tour while working behind the scenes with athletes, coaches, organizers, and my colleagues at the FIS was an absolutely invaluable experience I will cherish forever. At the same time, it wasn’t sustainable for me beyond those years, which is another important lesson I learned.”
A Global Lens
Now a dual citizen of the United States and Norway, Feehan splits her time almost evenly between North America and Europe. That perspective has become one of her greatest strengths.
She understands the differences in culture, structure, and opportunity across continents, and more importantly, how much the sport can gain when those worlds exchange ideas with each other.
After six years in a corporate career, Feehan returned to sport in a major way, stepping into the role of Deputy Venue Manager for the Milano Cortina Olympic Winter Games. Her mission in Cortina is clear: to create the optimal conditions for women’s alpine skiing to take center stage at the Games, driving both media attention and commercial impact at a level the sport has never seen before.
With promising performances developing deep throughout women’s alpine, she has a hunch these Olympics will be critical for showcasing to the rising generation of athletes just what is possible through the sport.
Building What Comes Next
At the same time, Feehan is a co-founder of the WWSO, a new initiative focused on high performance, leadership, and long-term retention of girls and women in ski sport. Her focus has been on the alpine competition side of the organization, where she champions the education of performance multipliers for teams and individual athletes.
The organization’s second annual World Women’s Snowsport Summit will take place in Kaprun, Austria, from April 12 to 17, 2026, bringing together coaches, instructors, and leaders committed to building better systems for women in snowsports. The program includes on-snow clinics, workshops, guest speakers, and panels aligned with the Coaching HER framework developed by the Tucker Center for Research on Women and Girls in Sport.
This winter, the organization will also co-host a condensed version of the Summit in Whistler Blackcomb, Canada, from March 11 to 13, 2026, in collaboration with PSIC.
The goal is not just conversation, but action. Feehan and her like-minded colleagues are creating practical pathways that keep more female athletes in the sport longer and place more women in influential professional roles across coaching, leadership, media, and governance.
“A massive revelation for me recently has been that 94% of women in executive leadership roles played sports, and over 52% of those did so at the NCAA level. Keeping more girls in the game longer will further instill the confidence, discipline, and decision-making skills to serve them well beyond their years in the gates. But it’s crucial we create the right environments to keep them in the sport.”
She believes this approach will improve ski racing for everyone, not only women. The WWSO hopes to gain traction with more national associations, programs, teams, and brands to make this education second nature among coaches and leaders in the industry.
Act Three
What makes Christine Feehan’s story compelling is not just what she has done, but how intentionally she has connected each chapter.
Coaching taught her the athlete experience. Media taught her the power of narrative. Global leadership is now giving her the platform to influence systems.
In her third act, she is bringing it all together.
“My experiences, especially in the past 10 years all over the world, have helped me realize that so much more goes into effective coaching and team management than where we put the gates in the hill, how we design a conditioning program, or what a boot setup should look like. They are all valuable components, but I want to help facilitate the discussions necessary to raise this sport in its understanding of both the human condition and our potential.”
With several promising conversations underway across North America and Europe, Feehan continues to build bridges between organizations, leaders, and generations of athletes. Her work is driven by one belief: that alpine skiing will be even better when more open conversations are encouraged, more perspectives are valued, and more women are supported to stay, lead, and thrive in the sport.
For Ski Racing Media readers, Christine Feehan represents what is possible when experience, courage, and vision align. Her impact is no longer limited to a single team, race, or season. It is shaping a bright future for alpine skiing everywhere.
About the Author: Katie Twible
