Team GB Claims Olympic Success

The 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics concluded with a total of five medals for GB – three golds, a silver and a bronze.

Two of the medals came from the snowsport athletes with the final one on the last day of competition.

Zoe Atkin secured a bronze in the ski halfpipe on Sunday morning, the first Olympic medal in the discipline for GB.

• GB’s Zoe Atkin Wins Winter Olympic Bronze

It ensured that an Olympics that perhaps didn’t quite live up to the expectations many of us had for the GB snowsports athletes, at least in terms of the number of medals, ended on a successful note.

There were some disappointing results and some podium near misses.

From Despair to Elation

One initial shock was the failure of Charlotte Bankes to make it past the quarter-final stage of the women’s snowboard cross, just as she’d done at Beijing in 2022.

The former world champion with 26 World Cup golds to her name had been expected to medal.

She certainly made up for it, though, 48 hours later with teammate Huw Nightingale in the mixed team event.

The pair – who were 2023 World Champions – added the Olympic title to their list of achievements.

It was the first ever Winter Olympics gold medal on snow for Great Britain.

• Charlotte Bankes & Huw Nightingale Win Olympic Gold

Charlotte Bankes was selected to be one of the two GB flag bearers at the Closing Ceremony.

“To be asked to carry the flag is a dream come true and feels like a moment for our entire snowboard cross team,” she said ahead of the ceremony.

“We have made history for our sport, and I will be walking out there carrying it for everyone who has been part of that journey.

“Leading Team GB out at my first Closing Ceremony will be very special.

“It is a chance to reflect on everything we have put into these Games and to celebrate the medals we have won, and those we have come so close to.’’

The President of the IOC, Kirsty Coventry, reflected upon the position of The Olympic movement in the current world in her speech at the Closing Ceremony.

“You showed us what excellence, respect, and friendship look like in a world that often forgets these values.

“You showed us that the Olympic Games are a place for everyone.”

Podium Near Misses

GB freeskier, 21-year-old Kirsty Muir, had been a strong contender for medals in her second Winter Olympics, but finished both her events in 4th place.

In slopestyle she missed bronze by just 0.41 points.

In big air, she was 3.5 points behind the skier who finished third.

Kirsty won a gold and silver at the 2026 X Games in Aspen and also has World Cup victories.

Like Kirsty, 19-year-old Mia Brookes, in her first appearance at a Winter Olympics, suffered the agony of a 4th place in snowboard big air.

Any hope that she could do better in her preferred event of slopestyle, where her prospects were arguably better, evaporated when she failed to make the 12-woman final.

Mia became the youngest World Champion in snowboarding history when she won slopestyle gold at 16.

She has also won back-to-back big air Crystal Globes, World Cup gold in December, as well as slopestyle gold and big air bronze at the 2026 X Games.

But in freestyle ski and snowboard competitions, podiums can be – and often are – decided on very small margins.

Athletes can go from hero to zero with just one less-than-perfect landing.

In her big air contest Mia tried a trick that had never been landed in competition before and was so close to nailing it.

As BBC Sport commentator Ed Leigh said at the time: “That was a gold.”

Such a shame, but both Mia and Kirsty are young enough to compete in several more Olympics.

They will get their next chance of Olympic glory in the French Alps in 2030.

Cross-Country History-Makers

Away from the medal prospects, there were some outstanding results, notably in the gruelling cross-country ski events.

Here, GB sporting history was made – more than once.

Andrew Musgrave concluded his fifth Olympics with an impressive 6th in the 50km mass start classic free on the penultimate day of the Games.

It was his fourth consecutive top 10 and his second 6th place of the Games – the highest cross-country Olympic finish for an individual GB athlete.

Earlier, with teammate James Clugnet in the men’s team sprint free, Muzzy recorded Great Britain’s best cross-country Olympic result – 5th.

Olympic debutants Joe Davies and Anna Pryce also performed well.

Joe’s best was a 12th place and Anna recorded GB’s best results by a female cross-country skier.

Alpine – Ryding’s Farewell

We can’t end this round-up without mentioning GB’s greatest alpine ski racer and the only one to win a World Cup race.

Dave Ryding was competing in his fifth and final Winter Olympics before retiring at the end of the season.

Although he couldn’t match his best Olympic result, ‘The Rocket’ bowed out with 17th place in the slalom to bring the curtain down on a stellar Olympic career.

Teammate Billy Major finished one spot above Dave.

Billy and Laurie Taylor, who straddled a gate on the first run but has managed an impressive 4th place in the World Cup this season, could well be good prospects for future Games, along with other up-and-coming alpine racers.

GB’s Winter Olympics Record

GB’s best medal haul at a Winter Olympics before Milan-Cortina was five.

This was achieved at Sochi in 2014, where Jenny Jones won bronze in snowboard slopestyle, and matched in PyeongChang four years later, where bronze medals for Izzy Atkin (ski slopestyle) and Billy Morgan (snowboard big air) contributed to the tally.

Beijing 2022 was hugely disappointing with just two GB medals – a gold and silver in curling – but none on snow.

Milan-Cortina, with five medals, is officially the best performance by Team GB because three of the five were golds.

It also meets UK Sport’s pre-Games target of between four and eight medals.

On the ice, only skeleton (two golds) and curling (one silver) delivered medals for GB.

On snow, there was that gold in snowboard cross and the bronze in ski halfpipe.

Overall, it could have been better.

But for GB Snowsport, the foundation is there and there are reasons to be hopeful for 2030.

Many of the GB athletes at Milan-Cortina – like Mia Brookes, Kirsty Muir and bronze medallist Zoe Atkin – are only in their teens or early twenties.

They will be back and hungry for more.

The Chief Executive of GB Snowsport, Vicky Gosling, has been in Italy for the Games.

She was more than happy with the performance of her athletes when she spoke to the BBC after the final event.

“We’re ecstatic. We’ve had two historic medals really for Britain,” she said.

“We’ve had the first gold with Charlotte and Huw and now we’ve just seen Zoe absolutely smashing it.

“It was such a close competition and she had the most height of everybody.

“It was an interesting scoring set up but, at the end of the day, she got a medal.”

She said the results had validated the GB Snowsport strategy.

“Here we are with two medals, a gold and a bronze, in snowsport.

“Who wouldn’t be happy with that and we’re absolutely delighted – the team, the athletes, everybody that’s put so much effort in.

“We told the world after Beijing we were going to come back here and show them what we were made of and I think we’ve done that in spades.”

With the near-misses and numerous fourth places there is most certainly a platform for the future.

Many of us watched the events and though we may not have reached the podium, just to know Team GB had a realistic chance of a medal in multiple events was exciting and new territory of GB snowsports fans.

“These Games have been amazing, and a history-making Games,” Team GB Chef de Mission, Eve Muirhead, told BBC Sport.

“This Games has really proven that we are capable, that we have so much potential, and we’re growing.

“We’re a growing winter nation, which is really exciting.

“With the French Alps Winter Olympics in four years time, this is a catalyst to those Games.”

Here at PlanetSKI all we can say is ‘Roll on 2030’…

• What will 2030 French Winter Olympics look like?
• France Awarded 2030 Winter Olympics With Salt Lake City Set to Get 2034 Games

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