Ryan Wedding is a Canadian former Olympic snowboarder who competed at the 2002 Winter Olympics in the men's parallel giant slalom. After retiring from competitive snowboarding, he was accused by United States authorities of becoming an international drug trafficker. In March 2025 he was added to the FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list, and in January 2026 he was arrested in Mexico City and later extradited to Southern California to face trial. He denies the charges, and the allegations against him remain unproven in court.
Snowboarding career
Born in Thunder Bay, Ontario, Wedding moved with his family to Coquitlam, British Columbia, when he was twelve, and began snowboarding there. He joined the Canadian national ski team at fifteen and won medals at junior world championships in 1999 and 2001. At the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City he finished twenty-fourth in parallel giant slalom, after which he left competitive snowboarding.
Criminal allegations
After leaving sport, Wedding was linked to a marijuana farm raided by police in 2006, though he was not present and was not charged. He was convicted in 2010 of attempting to buy cocaine from a United States government agent and served a prison sentence. In October 2024 federal prosecutors charged him with leading a transnational organized crime group involved in cocaine trafficking and murder, allegations he has not been convicted of.