Team GB have announced a team of 59 athletes for the 2018 Olympic Games in PyeongChang, a number which includes a record 25 skiers and snowboarders.
The ski and snowboard team was announced today (January 25th) and includes a host of fresh British talent. In fact, for over half the team, this will be their first ever Olympic Games. The average age is just 24, a statistic that bodes well for the future of British snow sports.
Ski & Snowboard Team Leader Dan Hunt sees the PyeongChang Games as one of the first major steps on a journey which can move Great Britain towards being one of the world’s leading snowsports nations.
Hunt said: “We are going to be competing in more disciplines in PyeongChang than we have before and we’ve never had more athletes heading to an Olympics with genuine expectations about how well their performances will stack up against the best in the world.
He added “Of course you can never predict how the results will ultimately fall, but I am certain that we’re going to Korea with opportunities to deliver more world class performances than a British ski and snowboard team ever has at an Olympic Games.”
Freestyle skiers make up the largest portion of the skiers and snowboarders in Team GB, with eleven athletes competing across four disciplines: halfpipe (5), slopestyle (4), ski cross (1) and aerials (1).
Katie Summerhayes
After placing seventh in ski slopestyle at Sochi 2014, Katie Summerhayes has finished inside the top 10 at seven of her past nine World Cups including achieving second at Stubai in November. She is joined at her second Olympic Games by sister Molly, who has been selected for the squad for the first time.
Meanwhile, 19-year-old Izzy Atkin will be hoping that her first Winter Games will be an opportunity to build on her recent successes; competing at her first X-Games, earning a World Championships bronze medal and standing on the World Cup podium twice.
Four-time World Cup winner James Woods narrowly missed out on a podium spot in 2014 and will return for his second Winter Games with a podium place in his sights.
They will be joined by a host of British freestyle talent which includes Rowan Cheshire, Murray Buchan, Peter Speight, Alexander Glavatsky-Yeadon, Lloyd Wallace and Tyler Harding.
Emily Sarsfield will represent GB in the ski cross. After suffering a knee injury which ruled her out of Vancouver 2010 and narrowly missed out on 2014 Olympic selection, she is keen to show what she can do.
Emily Sarsfield
Slalom skier Dave Ryding leads the Alpine skiing charge after some promising results over the last few years, including a historic podium position in Kitzbuhel last year. Ryding will be joined in the Alpine events by Laurie Taylor, Alex Tilley and Charlie Guest.
Andrew Musgrave and Andrew Young return for their third Olympic Games, following some great results this year, while Callum Smith and Annika Taylor round out the quartet of British Nordic Team skiers.
A definite one to watch is up snowboarder Katie Ormerod, who has hit a great form in Big Air lately; in 10 World Cup competitions she has finished in the top 10 nine times and finished on the podium five times, including with a victory in Moscow last January. She will be competing in Big Air and slopestyle alongside Aimee Fuller, who will be experiencing her second Winter Games.
Katie Ormerod
Joining her on the snowboard squad are previous Olympians Jamie Nicholls and Billy Morgan, both of whom competed at Sochi 2014, finishing sixth and 10th respectively in the snowboard slopestyle. Meanwhile, Zoe Gillings-Brier will be competing in her fourth Olympic Games, after placing inside the top 10 in snowboard cross for the past two Games.
Team GB Skiers and Snowboarders are as follows:
Alpine skiing
Charlie Guest, Dave Ryding, Laurie Taylor, Alex Tilley.
Cross-country skiing
Andrew Musgrave, Callum Smith, Annika Taylor, Andrew Young
Freestyle skiing
Izzy Atkin, Murray Buchan, Rowan Cheshire, Alexander Glavatsky-Yeadon, Tyler Harding, Emily Sarsfield, Peter Speight, Katie Summerhayes, Molly Summerhayes, Lloyd Wallace, James Woods
Snowboarding
Rowan Coultas, Aimee Fuller, Zoe Gillings-Brier, Billy Morgan, Jamie Nicholls, Katie Ormerod
