Ben Richards

Wānaka, New Zealand | Active: 2019-present freeride career | Discipline: Freeride, Big-Mountain Freestyle and Backcountry Skiing | Known for: 2026 FWT title, FIS Freeride World Championship, Xtreme Verbier win, Treble Cone roots

Bec Des Rosses With The Title Still Open

The Bec des Rosses held fifty centimeters of fresh snow, bright March light, and the kind of exposure that makes every traverse sound hollow. Ben Richards dropped into Xtreme Verbier 2026 with the Freeride World Tour title still alive, Toby Rafford and Ross Tester close enough to make one mistake decisive. Richards did not ski like a rider defending points. He linked three 360s across exposed sections, added a cork 3, stayed fluid through technical terrain, and won both the event and the overall. Two months after becoming the first FIS Freeride World Champion in ski men, the Kiwi had closed the season on freeride’s most loaded face.

Mammoth At Two, Wānaka At Six

Richards’ story starts with a split geography. He was born in the United States, learned to ski at Mammoth Mountain at age two, then moved to New Zealand at six because both of his parents are Kiwi. Wānaka and Treble Cone became the real home of his skiing. That move matters because New Zealand shaped the mountain sense behind the later FWT results: exposed alpine terrain, variable snow, wind, short storms, long drives, and a local scene where skiers learn to make bad forecasts useful.

Before freeride, Richards was a racer. He spent his teenage years chasing gates, back-to-back winters, and speed rather than cliffs or tricks. That racing background never disappeared. It shows in the way he crosses exposed sections, keeps skis quiet under pressure, and carries speed without looking rushed. Freeride gave him more terrain. Racing gave him the discipline to move through it cleanly.

Revelstoke Turned The Racer Loose

The turning point came in 2019 during a working holiday in Revelstoke, British Columbia. Richards has described that period as the moment he quit ski racing and started exploring more of the mountain. Revelstoke was the right place for that switch. The terrain gives skiers steep trees, alpine bowls, pillows, cliffs, and deep snow that can change every hour.

That move did not instantly make him a professional freerider. The early Freeride World Qualifier years were messy because COVID restrictions canceled events and complicated travel. Richards was trying to build a freeride ranking while the calendar itself kept shifting. That context is important. He did not arrive on the Freeride World Tour as a teenager groomed by a perfect qualification system. He arrived after racing, working, traveling, and learning how to turn his speed into line choice.

Craig Murray, Finn Bilous And The Treble Cone Standard

Richards has named Craig Murray and Finn Bilous as major influences from his hometown scene. Both names matter. Murray showed how a New Zealand skier could carry freeride style onto the world stage, while Bilous represented a different kind of all-mountain creativity, moving between competition, tricks, and film with a strong Wānaka identity.

Treble Cone is the quiet third influence. Its terrain rewards skiers who read fast. The mountain has exposed traverses, natural takeoffs, wind-affected snow, and enough steep fall-line skiing to punish poor decisions. Richards’ later FWT lines often carry that same rhythm: choose a line that looks fun, ski it with speed, make the trick part of the route, and avoid over-complicating the plan. His style is not only technical. It is local.

Fieberbrunn And The Rookie Shock

The 2024 Freeride World Tour introduced Richards to the top circuit, and Fieberbrunn gave him the first major result. On the Wildseeloder face in Austria, he won the ski men’s category as a rookie with the fastest run of the day. The key moment was a 360 on the Häusl Cliff, a feature that demands speed, pop, and commitment before the landing is fully understood.

That victory set the tone for his rookie season. He was not skiing like a rider trying to survive the cut. He was choosing fast, clean, freestyle-oriented lines that still fit freeride judging. The result helped him finish third overall in 2024 and earn Rookie of the Year. For a skier who had only moved seriously into freeride after racing, that was a rapid conversion from potential to proof.

Baqueira And Kicking Horse Built The Second Season

The 2025 season showed that Fieberbrunn was not a one-stop surprise. Richards placed third at Baqueira Beret and third at Kicking Horse. Those podiums were useful because the venues ask different questions. Baqueira gives Pyrenean terrain with rock bands, rollovers, and line-choice traps. Kicking Horse brings British Columbia steepness, snow texture, and a crowd that understands freeride risk.

Two third places gave him a stable place near the top of the men’s ski field. They also showed the maturing version of his approach. The rookie year had already proved that he could win. The second season proved that he could keep collecting results when the field had seen him, studied him, and understood how much speed he was willing to carry into freestyle moves.

Baqueira And Val Thorens Opened The 2026 Run

The 2026 season started with a different tone. Richards won at Baqueira Beret, then won again at Val Thorens. That turned him from a podium threat into the season’s reference point. In freeride, consecutive wins are hard because the sport rarely gives the same conditions twice. Snow, visibility, face choice, start order, and wind can change the entire contest.

Richards’ value in that stretch came from efficiency. He did not need the most complicated line every time. He needed a line that let him show speed, control, freestyle intent, and clean exits. His racing roots helped there. A skier who understands speed management can make a run look less forced. Richards often appears to have an extra second between decisions, even when the face is steep and the landing options are narrow.

Ordino Arcalís And The First FIS Freeride Gold

The first FIS Freeride World Championships at Ordino Arcalís changed the stakes. The Basser Negre face had not hosted a Freeride World Tour competition since 2018, and the event carried the pressure of a first world title. Richards won ski men with 91.67 points, ahead of Ugo Troubat, who used three 360s and a backflip in a strong French run.

The conditions helped create a true championship day: delayed start, then clear visibility, fresh snow, and a 470-meter face with cliffs, couloirs, and enough options for different styles. Richards’ run stood out because it was fast, fluid, and clean. It was not the wildest-looking line of the day, but it carried the one thing a world championship rewards most: no obvious weakness from start to finish.

Haines Kept The Alaska Test Honest

Haines, Alaska, did not give Richards another win, and that matters. The venue brought spines, deep relief, and a level of consequence that makes every small recovery visible. Reports from the event described him skiing out of situations that could easily have ended in a fall, then linking big airs and 360s to keep the run alive.

That stop added a useful texture to the 2026 season. Richards was not winning every face by default. He still had to manage imperfect landings, changing snow, and terrain that did not always reward the cleanest plan. The Alaska run showed the survival side of his skiing: fast adaptation, loose balance, and the ability to keep a line moving even when the upper mountain refuses to stay tidy.

How Richards Makes Speed Look Calm

Richards’ technical identity starts with speed, but it is not blind charging. He uses racing pressure in freeride terrain: clean edges, early direction changes, efficient traverses, and a stable platform before takeoff. That foundation lets him place tricks into steep lines without making them feel decorative.

The freestyle vocabulary includes 360s, cork 3s, hand-drag variations, big airs, fast fall-line exits, exposed takeoffs, and natural transitions. The important part is how he connects them. Richards rarely looks like he is stopping the line to perform a trick. He uses the trick as the next turn. That is why his best runs score well: they combine air and style with control, fluidity, technique, and line choice instead of treating those categories as separate boxes.

New Zealand Winters As Training Ground

Richards’ preparation has an unusual advantage: New Zealand winter lands during the Northern Hemisphere off-season. He has said that his preparation happens at home, where he coaches freeride and spends time skiing, training in the gym, and biking depending on conditions. Coaching is not just a job in that rhythm. It forces him to explain line choice, safety, and decision-making while checking those same habits in his own skiing.

That structure fits a FWT athlete from the Southern Hemisphere. He can train during New Zealand winter, then move into the European and North American contest season with snow time already behind him. It also keeps Treble Cone and Wānaka central to the story. Richards is not only exported talent competing abroad. His best competition skiing is still fed by the terrain and culture at home.

The North Face, Armada And The AntiMatter Season

Richards’ public sponsor picture now includes The North Face and Armada, with earlier public support from LINE, Sweet Protection and ZipFit also documented. The hardgoods story became especially visible during the 2026 season because Blister highlighted the Armada AntiMatter 114 as the ski tied to his FWT and world-title run.

The equipment context matters because Richards sits between categories. He needs a freeride ski that can hold speed on exposed faces, land 360s in variable snow, and stay composed when the lower mountain turns chopped or firm. His career path also shows how the sponsor story evolved: LINE welcomed him in 2021 as a Wānaka / Treble Cone skier chasing FWQ starts, while the 2026 version is an Armada athlete at the top of the FWT.

Fickle Business And The Home Snow Problem

Fickle Business, directed by Hunter Paull, gave Richards a film marker that matched his home identity. The project follows Ben Richards and Ben Barclay trying to make the most of a New Zealand winter defined by uncertain forecasts, rain turns, difficult access roads, and the old local habit of turning bad situations into good memories.

The film matters because it prevents the page from becoming only a results résumé. Richards’ 2026 contest season is the headline, but his skiing is also tied to New Zealand’s weather problem: short windows, long drives, and powder that may arrive perfectly or disappear into rain. Fickle Business shows why a Wānaka freerider needs patience as much as confidence. The snow does not always cooperate, so the skier has to stay loose.

Verbier Closed The Hat Trick

By the time Richards reached Verbier, the résumé had changed completely. Fieberbrunn 2024 had introduced him. Baqueira and Kicking Horse 2025 had confirmed him. Baqueira, Val Thorens, Ordino Arcalís, Haines, and Verbier 2026 had turned him into the season’s central skier. The final title sequence was clear: FIS Freeride World Champion, Freeride World Tour Champion, and Xtreme Verbier winner.

That is enough for a 5/5 profile. Richards does not have Olympic or X Games medals, but freeride uses a different summit. He won the tour, won the first FIS world title, won on the Bec des Rosses, and did it with a style that still looks personal rather than manufactured. The current endpoint is concrete: Wānaka racer turned freeride champion, still tied to Treble Cone, still filming at home, and now the skier every men’s FWT line will be measured against.