GB Snowsport loses UK Sport funding but athletes unaffectedImage source, Getty ImagesImage caption, Charlotte Bankes and Huw Nightingale won Team GB’s first gold medal on snow at a Winter OlympicsByAdam WildBBC SportPublished9 minutes agoUK Sport will no longer channel investment in skiing and snowboarding through the sports’ UK governing body, GB Snowsport.It will instead find a new way to deliver £12.5m of funding to athletes and coaches before the 2030 Winter Olympics and Paralympics.The news comes six months after Team GB enjoyed their most successful Winter Olympics at Milan-Cortina.
They won five medals, including an unprecedented three golds, one of which was in the snowboard cross mixed team event – a first ever gold medal on snow.
UK Sport has written to all snowsport athletes who receive funding to make them aware of the decision, also confirming funding grants will continue to be paid directly. An independent review will now be set up into the governance of GBS.
The funding is part of a record investment of more than £33m into winter sports for the four-year cycle.
Kate Baker, director of performance and people at UK Sport, reported: “Competition across Olympic and Paralympic winter sport is only getting stronger, which is why it’s more important than ever that we invest where we can have the biggest impact.
“It is also why we are not afraid of driving the change needed to give our athletes the very best chance of success.”
In a statement, GBS reported it was “disappointed” by the decision but will continue to work with UK Sport. However, it reported it “reserves the right to keep all options open to ensure that the achievements of the past four years are not lost”.
GB Snowsport has changed its chair twice in the past three years and is currently advertising for a new chair.
Michael Oesterlin, who has been a non-executive director at the organisation for four years, is interim chair.
The GBS statement added: “We have recently concluded an independent governance review funded by UK Sport, which has validated that our governance standards remain strong and appropriate.
“We look forward to engaging fully and robustly in any new review, which we are confident will reach the same conclusions.”
The increased overall investment is up from about £32.5m for the 2026 Winter Olympics and Paralympics cycle.
It was the third time in four Winter Olympics that Team GB had won five medals, but they had only ever won a maximum of one gold medal on the previous occasions. ParalympicsGB returned with one silver medal.
The next Games will be held in the French Alps in 2030.
Baker added the results “showed what British winter sport is capable of, with incredible performances across more sports than ever before”.
“With another Winter Games on European soil and an incredibly talented crop of athletes, we’re excited by what’s possible over the next four years,” she added.
From the investment announcement, about a third (£10m) will go to bobsleigh and skeleton, which provided two of Team GB’s three gold medals at Milan-Cortina.
Other sports benefiting are curling (£6.54m), wheelchair curling (£1.93m), ice skating (£2m) and ice hockey which will receive £445,000 in ‘transition funding’ which Tim Bratton, interim chief executive of Ice Hockey UK, says will be used to “transition into a self-sustainable governing body for our fantastic sport”.
From 2030, funding for bobsleigh and skeleton programmes from UK Sport will be operated by a new “multi-sport delivery organisation” called Sport Org which will operate elite performance programmes on behalf of governing bodies.
Sport Org already oversees curling and wheelchair curling programmes and will take over from the British Bobsleigh & Skeleton Association (BBSA) in the run-up to Utah 2034.
