Canadian athletes and fans want fossil fuel sponsors out of the Olympics, poll finds

Written By Peter Allan

Ben Podborski, roped and geared, on a high alpine route in the Purcell Mountains of BC, where warming temperatures have made snow and ice conditions increasingly unreliable. Photo submitted.

By Abdul Matin Sarfraz

In Whistler, BC, Ben Podborski learned to ski on snow-covered mountains that once felt permanent. Glaciers stretched across the peaks and ice climbs — frozen climbing routes — formed early each winter and lasted for months. Today, Podborski says many of those places are gone or unreliable.

“I used to ski on glaciers here in the summer when I was a teenager,” Podborski told Canada’s National Observer. “That’s not possible anymore.”

Podborski is an alpinist and ice climber. He is also the son of Olympic medalist skier Steve Podborski, who took a public stand against tobacco sponsorship in sport in the 1980s. As the 2026 Winter Olympics approach, Podborski is now speaking out against fossil fuel advertising in winter sports.

Winter sports depend on cold temperatures and reliable snow, but fossil fuel pollution is driving warming that makes those conditions harder to find each year, he said.

As Canada’s teams, sponsored in part by Petro-Canada, prepare to head to Italy for the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan–Cortina, Podborski is among thousands of Canadians surveyed who argue the Games should stop promoting oil and gas companies.

They say it is a clear contradiction to advertise fossil fuel brands at winter sports events while climate change is shrinking the very snow and ice those sports depend on.

“It’s not always that these venues or routes are completely unavailable,” Podborski said. “It’s the uncertainty. Do we have enough snow? Maybe this year we have too much snow. Next year, maybe we have none.”

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