5 leading British hopes to deliver Winter Olympic medal haul at Milan Cortina

Posted by author February 6, 2025 Sports

From the curling rinks to the sliding chutes and freestyle slopes, Great Britain will head to the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan and Cortina boasting genuine medal chances across a range of disciplines.

One year out from the Games, the PA news agency takes a look at the best hopes to emulate the team’s record-breaking hauls of five Winter Olympic medals in Sochi and Pyeongchang respectively.

Bruce Mouat (Curling)

Bruce Mouat’s curlers hope to go one better than their Beijing silver (Andrew Milligan/PA)

Bruce Mouat’s team were forced to settle for silver in Beijing in 2022 but the 30-year-old has maintained his impact at the top of the world game. He guided Scotland to the 2023 world title and cementing them in third place in the rankings behind Canada and Sweden.

Mouat will also stand a big chance in the mixed doubles event, likely with his long-term team-mate Jennifer Dodds.

Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson (Ice dance)

Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games – Day Eight — Lewis Gibson and Lilah Fear are Great Britain’s ice dance hopes (Andrew Milligan/PA)

Britain’s best-performing ice dancers since Torvill and Dean, Lilah Fear and Lewis Gibson have won Skate America and Grand Prix titles and landed a third career European medal in Estonia this month.

While it will take a big leap to reach the Olympic podium, Fear and Gibson can consider themselves live contenders in an event in which consistency is key.

Brad Hall (Bobsleigh)

Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games – Day Fourteen — Brad Hall is steering Britain’s bobsleigh team towards glory (Robert Michael/PA)

After a miserable Beijing Games, Britain’s sliders regrouped to devastating effect and have since landed a slew of World Cup titles in both bobsleigh and skeleton.

Few Winter Olympic events are as famous as the four-man bobsleigh, and Brad Hall’s pair of golds in Winterburg and St Moritz this season raise genuine hopes of glory in Cortina next year.

Mia Brookes (Snowboard)

Mia Brookes Handout Photo — Mia Brookes is already a snowboard record-breaker (Miha Matavz/PA)

Mia Brookes was crowned the youngest snowboard world champion in history at the age of 16 in 2023, and shows no signs of slowing down. Slopestyle gold in Laax in January was her third World Cup win of the season, and she is set to defend her world title in St Moritz in March.

Brookes boasts serious medal chances in both slopestyle and Big Air disciplines.

Charlotte Bankes (Snowboard-cross)

Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games – Day Five — Charlotte Bankes was left disappointed in Beijing (Andrew Milligan/PA)

Having switched to Team GB after previously representing France, Charlotte Bankes went to Beijing in 2022 as the defending women’s snowboard-cross world champion only to crash out in the quarter-finals.

But the 29-year-old has sustained her status as the top of her sport and double World Cup gold back in China this month mark her out once again as an Olympic contender.