Ten British medal hopefuls to watch at Winter Olympics 2026
Team GB heads to Milano-Cortina 2026 with the potential for a record-breaking medal haul
The Winter Olympics get underway on Friday 6 February, with Great Britain in a brilliant position to achieve a record-breaking medal haul.
After a comparatively disappointing Games in Beijing 2022, when Team GB only picked up two medals - both in curling - hopes are much higher going into Milano-Cortina.
The Team GB squad features multiple reigning world champions across a range of disciplines and UK Sport have set an ambitious target of four to eight medals. The midpoint of that range would surpass Britain’s best-ever Olympic performance, a five-medal haul from Sochi 2014 and Pyeongchang 2018.
UK Sport’s director of performance and people, Kate Baker, said: “We are in the strongest position we have ever been going into a Games from a world championship performance perspective. We know that on the day, anything can happen, but we also recognise that we have extraordinary talent.”
As what could be Britain’s best-ever Winter Games approaches, we take a look at the major names to watch:
Zoe Atkin - freestyle skiing
Zoe Atkin finished ninth in her debut Olympics in Beijing but has taken the sport by storm since then, and is well placed to follow in the footsteps of older sister Izzy, who won Britain’s first-ever Olympic skiing medal with slopestyle bronze in Pyeongchang 2018.
The 23-year-old freestyle skier is the reigning world champion in halfpipe and won the overall World Cup crystal globe in the discipline last season, sharing the title with China’s Li Fanghui. She has carried that stunning form into the 2025-26 season, winning a second X Games gold last week, and has two silvers and a gold medal on the World Cup circuit so far this year, making her a heavy favourite for gold in Milano-Cortina.
Mia Brookes - snowboarding
19-year-old snowboarder Mia Brookes is another British favourite for a gold medal at the Games. She is making her Olympic debut in Milano-Cortina but is already a world champion and World Cup winner, having won the overall World Cup crystal globe last season alongside a second big air title.
She became the youngest world champion in snowboarding history with slopestyle gold in Georgia in 2023, simultaneously becoming GB’s first-ever world champion in the event, and is on top form heading to Italy having won X Games gold in slopestyle and bronze in Big Air this weekend. She will compete in both slopestyle and big air, with the potential for two medals at her maiden Games.
Kirsty Muir - freestyle skiing
Freestyle skier Kirsty Muir has had a less than straightforward journey to her second Olympic Games. The 21-year-old ruptured her anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in December 2023, remarkably managing to win bronze in a World Cup race despite being troubled by the as-yet undiagnosed injury.
She spent a year sidelined and had surgery on both the knee and a pre-existing shoulder problem, before returning in style, recording her first-ever World Cup victory just two months into her comeback, in March 2025.
The Scot was Team GB’s youngest athlete in Beijing, when she finished fifth in the Big Air and eighth in the slopestyle, and is in a strong position to improve on those results with two World Cup victories so far this season and two medals - gold in slopestyle and silver in Big Air - at the X Games last weekend.
Charlotte Bankes - snowboard cross
Charlotte Bankes is another British snow athlete with gold medal potential - as Baker pointed out, “We have this incredible array of female athletes on snow who are pulling extraordinary things out of the bag”. 30-year-old Bankes is an Olympic veteran, having already represented France - where she grew up - in Sochi and Pyeongchang before competing for GB in Beijing.
A quarter-final exit there means she has unfinished business with the Games, but her path to victory was made more difficult by a collarbone injury last season which required two surgeries and drastically shortened her off-season preparation. But the two-time World Cup winner has already won a mixed team World Cup round alongside Huw Nightingale, who she will team up with in Milano-Cortina, and an individual World Cup round earlier this month, making her another one to watch.
Matt Weston - skeleton
As well as the freestyle skiing and snowboarding disciplines, GB have huge potential in skeleton - a sport which has seen at least one British medallist for every Winter Olympics it has featured in, bar Beijing.
Between them Matt Weston and teammate Marcus Wyatt won every single skeleton World Cup race this season, making Britain the first nation in history to achieve the feat. 28-year-old Weston is now a three-time World Cup overall winner, having won five of seven races on the circuit this season, and is the reigning world champion to boot, successfully defending his title in Lake Placid last March.
He is the red-hot favourite for individual gold in Cortina and a strong contender for another medal in the mixed team event alongside Tabby Stoecker, Britain’s top women’s skeleton athlete.
Marcus Wyatt - skeleton
Marcus Wyatt’s stunning season - winning the two World Cup races not won by Weston and finishing third overall - puts Britain in the position of having two strong favourites for Olympic glory.
The 34-year-old won the European title in 2024 and was runner-up to Weston at last year’s World Championships, and played a crucial role in Britain sealing the mixed team title in the World Cup this season, winning two races alongside Stoecker.
He finished 16th on his Olympic debut in Beijing but after becoming one of the most consistent winners on the elite circuit anything less than a medal this time around would be a major shock.
Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson - ice dance
Britain haven’t won a figure skating medal in any discipline since the legendary Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean won bronze in 1994. That could all be about to change with Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson among the contenders in a stacked ice dance field in Milan - including in the eyes of Torvill and Dean themselves.
The duo have become crowd favourites for their high-energy programmes to pop soundtracks but have combined that appeal with technically precise skating. The pair have finished on the European podium four times in a row, picking up bronze in Sheffield earlier this month, and are two-time Grand Prix Final medallists.
They took bronze at the world championships in Boston last year - Britain’s first world medal since 1984 - and are among the top four teams in the world, with a long-awaited Olympic medal a distinct possibility.
Bruce Mouat - curling
Curling was Britain’s only real success story from the Beijing Games and more success looks to be on the horizon as the men’s team, skipped by Bruce Mouat, target the only major medal missing from their collection: Olympic gold. The Scot has skipped the side since 2017 and has won two world titles, four European championships, and twelve Grand Slams.
The team took silver in Beijing and will be among the favourites to upgrade that medal this time around, while Mouat also stands a good chance in the mixed event alongside fellow Scot and 2022 Olympic champion in women’s curling, Jennifer Dodds.
Brad Hall - bobsleigh
Bobsleigh pilot Brad Hall will lead both the two-man and four-man squads at his third Olympics, with Team GB outsiders for a medal in both events despite a challenging season dealing with injuries. The experienced Hall is the nation’s most successful pilot in World Cup history, with 30 medals on the circuit.
He picked up a European and World Cup bronze in the two-man event alongside Taylor Lawrence - who has also been selected for the Olympic squad - earlier this month, and finished the World Cup season fourth in the four-man and sixth in the two-man discipline.
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