2026 Winter Olympics Starts On Friday
UK Sport believes Team GB could win between four and eight medals at The Games.
The came home from the Beijing 2022 Games with just two.
The nation’s best medal haul at a Winter Games is five, achieved at Sochi 2014 and matched in Pyeongchang four years later.
Team GB is taking 20 snowsport athletes to Milan-Cortina with four world class athletes in the ranks.
Mia Brookes, Charlotte Bankes, Zoe Atkin, & Kirsty Muir are medal contenders.
Shortly after being officially told of her place on the Olympic team Mia Brookes won gold at the X-Games:
Charlotte Bankes took victory in her last World Cup snowboard cross event:
“Being named to Team GB for Milan Cortina 2026 is a proud and motivating moment for me,” said Zoe Atkin.
“It reflects the hard work and commitment that goes into every day of training, and it gives me even more drive as I prepare to compete on the Olympic stage.”
She celebrated place on Team GB with a gold at the X Games – a second gold for GB after Mia Brooke’s earlier win.
Zoe is no stranger to the World Cup podium this season.
She is competing at a second Olympic Games and aiming to emulate her sister, Izzy, who won bronze at PyeongChang in 2018 in freeski slopestyle.
Kirsty Muir has had a good season so far this season that has seen the 21-year-old Scot claim two World Cup top spots in both women’s freeski slopestyle and big air.
She also won a gold at the X Games:
The Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics start on Friday 6th February and end on Sunday 22nd February.
Here are the snowsport athletes representing Great Britain:
Park & Pipe
- Zoe Atkin – Freeski Halfpipe
- Gus Kenworthy – Freeski Halfpipe
- Liam Richards – Freeski Halfpipe
- Chris McCormick – Freeski Slopestyle and Big Air
- Kirsty Muir – Freeski Slopestyle and Big Air
- Mia Brookes – Snowboard Slopestyle and Big Air
- Maisie Hill – Snowboard Slopestyle and Big Air
- Txema Mazet-Brown – Snowboard Slopestyle and Big Air
Alpine Skiing
- Billy Major – Slalom
- Dave Ryding – Slalom
- Laurie Taylor – Slalom
Cross-Country
- James Clugnet
- Joe Davies
- Andrew Musgrave
- Anna Pryce
Snowboard Cross
- Charlotte Bankes – Individual and team
- Huw Nightingale – Individual and team
Ski Cross
- Ollie Davies
Moguls
- Makayla Gerken Schofield
- Mateo Jeannesson
“It’s a real honour to be selected to represent Team GB again,” said the alpine ski favourite, Dave Ryding.
“I am looking forward to performing on the biggest stage in front of a central European crowd for the first time in my Olympic career and I can’t wait to get out there and into the action.
“I’ve never taken for granted what it means to represent my country and to have the chance to compete for Great Britain at an Olympic Games for the fifth time is something I could only have dreamed of when I went to my first Games back in 2010.”
Dave is competing in his last Winter Olympics and some of the loudest British cheers will be for ‘The Rocket’.
Dave Ryding in Schladming. Image © PlanetSKI
Like Dave, Andrew Musgrave will compete at his fifth Olympics as he participates in the cross-country.
“Over the past four years, our skiers and snowboarders have shown they’re capable of mixing it with the very best in the world, and the squad that’s heading out for these Games is a real reflection of the talent, grit, and will to win that makes British sport so special,” said the GB Snowsport chief executive, Vicky Gosling.
The Milan-Cortina Olympics will be the biggest Winter Games to be staged in the event’s history.
There will be 2,900 athletes from over 90 National Olympic Committees.
It will also be the biggest in geographic terms – venues are spread out all over an area of over 22,000 km².
The BBC will broadcast more than 450 hours of live action from the Games.
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