Britain sets ambitious medal target for Milano-Cortina Games
FILE PHOTO: A drone view shows the big ski jump in the snow park in Livigno, which will host all Snowboard and Freestyle Skiing events, including disciplines like Halfpipe, Slopestyle, Big Air, Ski Cross, Snowboard Cross, Moguls, Aerials, and Parallel Giant Slalom as part of the Milano Cortina Winter Olympic games in Italy, January 9, 2026. REUTERS/Yara Nardi/File Photo
LONDON, Jan 13 : Britain will target between four to eight medals at the Milano-Cortina Olympics, with team chiefs quietly confident that they can beat the record of five achieved at Sochi and PyeongChang.
The team returned with only two medals four years ago in Beijing - a gold in women's curling and a silver in the men's - but with 21 world championship medals across the various sports in the current Olympic cycle, optimism is running high.
UK Sport, who distributed 32.5 million pounds ($43.75 million) to the various winter sports' governing bodies in the current cycle, say they have set the target range, rather than a specific number, in collaboration with the governing bodies.
"We should absolutely feel confident, we have so many athletes who have achieved podium after podium, which is unprecedented," Kate Baker, Director of Performance and People at UK Sport, said on Tuesday.
"Our medal ranges reflect the fact that British athletes are arriving at the Games in hugely competitive form."
Britain's strongest medal prospects will be at the sliding and curling centres in Cortina. Those two sports have provided Britain with 15 Olympic medals, with three golds in each.
PUNCHING 'WELL ABOVE OUR WEIGHT'
Eve Muirhead skippered the women's curling team to a memorable gold in Beijing, but this time the 35-year-old Scot will be Team GB's Chef de Mission.
"I'm confident in saying that I believe that we are taking one of the most potent teams of athletes that we have ever taken to a Winter Olympic Games," Muirhead told reporters.
"While we are a nation that already punches well above our weight, given our relative lack of snow and ice, I believe that this team has the potential to really disrupt the natural order of big winter nations."
Bruce Mouat will lead Britain's men's curling team as they seek to upgrade on the silver from Beijing while two-time world champion Matt Weston will be one of the strong favourites for gold in men's skeleton.
"Matt has shown incredible consistency and multiple world championships across this cycle," Baker said. "We should feel really excited about what this team can do at the Games."
Podiums in snow sports have been more elusive with only three previous medals but freestyle skiers Kirsty Muir and Zoe Atkin are both considered strong prospects in February, while snowboarders Mia Brookes and Charlotte Banks will also be expected to challenge.
Brookes won slopestyle gold at the 2023 world championships, aged 16, while Banks won silver at last year's snowboard cross world championship.
Asked how realistic it is for Britain to top its record haul of five medals, Baker said: "The dead centre of our range will represent the greatest Olympic performance that we've ever seen at a Winter Games."
Britain has won 13 winter sport Olympic gold medals, although the first of those was by Madge Syers in figure skating, which was part of the 1908 Summer Games programme in London.
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