GB Snowsport has received a major funding boost following an Annual Investment Review funding decision from UK Sport.
The move signals a continued and enhanced UK Sport funding commitment for Winter Olympic and Paralympic snowsports, with around £24 million being granted in funding for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics.
Olympic funding has been increased from £5.2m in the PyeongChang Olympic Games cycle, to now up to £11.1 million for the Beijing cycle. Meanwhile, Paralympic funding has been increased from circa. £2.7 million in the PyeongChang cycle, to now being in receipt of up to circa. £4.4 million for the Beijing cycle.
GB Snowsport has welcomed the decision, which comes following GB’s most successful Winter Olympics and Winter Paralympics at the PyeongChang 2018 Games. There is hope that this increased investment will lead to still more medal winning performances in Beijing and beyond.
Vicky Gosling, CEO of GB Snowsport said:
“We welcome UK Sport’s finding decision and see it as recognition for all the hard work that we have been doing within the organisation. GB Snowsport’s primary objective is clear – to win Olympic and Paralympic medals, and this investment gives us additional momentum and impetus as we look forward to achieving success at the 2022 Olympic Winter and Paralympic Winter Games in Beijing. We know UK Sport face tough decisions when deciding how to allocate funding, and we’re extremely grateful for the additional investment we will receive to support our medal ambitions for Beijing 2022”
GB Snowsport put in a record-breaking performance at the PyeongChang Winter Games, coming away with two medals at the PyeongChang Winter Olympics and 7 medals at the PyeongChang Winter Paralympics.
The squad looks in great form a few years in advance of the Beijing Games, with newly crowned World Slopestyle Champion Katie Ormerod sure to be a firm favourite in the snowboard disciplines. Other athletes, including Dave Ryding, James Woods, Owen Pick and previous Olympic medallist Gus Kenworthy are also sure to be ones to watch following some great performances in the past few seasons.
In the previous funding cycle, most investment went specifically to GB’s highly regarded park and pipe programme (which has generated three Olympic medals over the last two campaigns). This funding, however, will be much broader. It will focus on more disciplines and more athletes than ever before, in line with GB Snowsport’s current focus on new programmes in disciplines the UK has not previously achieved success, including Ski Cross, Snowboard Cross and Moguls.
Dan Hunt, GB Snowsport Performance Director said:
“We are committed to delivering against our Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games medal targets and this further investment from UK Sport shows that they believe that we can continue to generate more success. We still have a lot of hard work to do, but we are continuing to get the right performance structures in place to set ourselves up for maximising the performances of our world-class athletes.”