Since marrying a Russian and joining her country's snowboard team, American Vic Wild has become a star. Reuters

Sochi, Russia

American Vic Wild is a top prospect to win a medal in snowboard slalom at the Winter Olympics. There's just one hitch: The White Salmon, Wash., native is competing for Russia.

On its face that may seem traitorous—a recent article referred to Wild as the American snowboarder "paid by Putin."

But in fact it's complex. Wild, 27, is one of America's forgotten snowboarders: They don't somersault, soar through the halfpipe or do flips off ramps. Instead, they speed down mountains like traditional ski racers, zigzagging around slalom flags on special racing snowboards. In part because they don't do tricks that attract sponsors, they represent an endangered species on the U.S. team.

A few years ago, the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association essentially abandoned alpine snowboard racing, slashing support for an already poorly funded discipline.

"I had no money," Wild says. So he decided to quit the team. "I wasn't going to continue banging my head against the wall." But in 2011, an opportunity arose. He married his girlfriend—Russian Olympic snowboarder Alyona Zavarzina, whom he met at an indoor snowboarding hall in the Netherlands—and the following year received Russian citizenship, allowing him to join a better-funded team.

"I told everybody in the Russian snowboard federation: If you guys take me, you'll never regret it," Wild said. More money allowed him to rent an apartment in Moscow and spend more time training. For the first time, he started posting top finishes that have made him an Olympic medal contender.

Meanwhile, his former team has withered. No U.S. women are competing in alpine snowboard racing in Sochi. The U.S. sent only one male—32-year-old Justin Reiter, who sometimes lives out of his truck.

There are 98 events at the Sochi Olympics. Only four lack a U.S. entrant. Two of those four are in alpine snowboarding.

Participants say lack of support from the USSA is a factor. "If we disappeared, they would probably be thankful for it, because they wouldn't have to deal with us at all," Reiter says. "I don't mean that in a bad way. They just would like to put their emphasis on other things."

Reiter says the U.S. Olympic officials did elect to provide him with some funding when he came out of retirement to attempt to make the Sochi Olympics. He says he's thankful for the money but it doesn't "come close to paying for the season."

Russia, Canada and many other countries plow millions in government funding into their Olympic training programs. The U.S. government, by contrast, provides no direct funding to its Olympic program, which relies on corporate sponsorships and private donations. Sports that aren't so attractive to sponsors or viewers can get short shrift.

The USSA underscores that it provides access to coaching, grants and sports medicine for all its athletes, including alpine snowboard racers. But it acknowledges that some disciplines get more financial support than others. The U.S. won one Olympic snowboarding slalom medal in 2002, one in 2006 and none in 2010.

USSA Spokesman Tom Kelly suggested the funding changes for alpine snowboarding reflected interest and participation. "The focus in snowboarding in America is very centric to halfpipe and slopestyle," he said. Kelly declined to say how much of USSA's budget goes to alpine snowboarding.

Some snowboard slalom devotees suggest that U.S. approach fuels a vicious cycle: To get funding, they must do well. But to do well, they need funding, says Mimi Wiencke, the top U.S. female alpine snowboard racer.

Wiencke lives with her mom in White Bear Lake, Minn. and works at a greeting-card company to pay for her training. At 24, she barely missed qualifying for the Olympics. Wiencke wonders if she would have made it to Sochi with deeper funding.

Wild reappeared on the snowboard racing scene with the Russian team, placing third at the 2013 World Championships after years of struggling on the U.S. team. Wiencke calls Wild's resurgence eye-opening.

"He has proved that sometimes all the hard work and talent in the world will fall short of hard work and talent backed by funding," Wiencke said.

Wild won gold last month in the final parallel slalom event of the 2014 World Cup tour. A gold medal in Sochi could earn Wild a 300,000-euro award from Russia. He has two chances to medal, on Wednesday and Saturday.

Asked if it would be bittersweet to win for Russia, Wild says, "The (Russians)—they are the only reason I'm still riding."

Write to Paul Sonne at and Rachel Bachman at