Team Gb Chief Predicts ‘most Potent’ Winter Games Ever With Sights Set On Eight Medals

Team GB person ne'er made thing much than nan occasional ripple astatine nan Winter Olympics. Which makes nan prediction of Eve Muirhead, Britain’s cook de ngo astatine these Milano Cortina Games, alternatively extraordinary.

“I judge that we are taking 1 of nan astir potent teams of athletes that we person taken to a Winter Olympic Games,” she says. “We person nan capacity to disrupt nan norm.”

That norm, betwixt 1952 and 2010, was conscionable 12 medals successful 16 Winter Games. Then came a surge, pinch five medals successful Sochi successful 2014 and 5 successful Pyeongchang successful 2018, earlier Britain won conscionable 2 medals successful Beijing. But Muirhead, who led nan women’s curling squad to Team GB’s only gold 4 years ago, senses that caller crushed will beryllium surgery by nan 53 British athletes complete nan adjacent 16 days.

“I spot a group of athletes pinch a existent pedigree successful position of caller results successful nan wintertime circuit,” she says. “And while we are a federation that already punches good supra our weight, fixed nan comparative deficiency of snowfall and ice, I judge this squad has nan imaginable to really disrupt nan earthy bid of large wintertime nations.”

UK Sport, which has invested £25.5m crossed wintertime sports, has group a extremity of 4 to 8 medals. But it is clear that Muirfeld wants to beryllium correct astatine nan apical extremity of that target.

“As a federation we are still an emerging challenger successful galore wintertime sports and portion of our ambitions astatine nan Games is to show we are a reliable squad crossed each disciplines,” she adds. “And I firmly judge we will be.”

There is surely important grounds down her optimism. In nan weeks earlier nan Games, GB Snowsports’ Mia Brookes, Kirsty Muir, Zoe Atkin each won X Games titles, while Charlotte Bankes won her first World Cup title since breaking her collar bone.

Now cook de ngo for Team GB, Eve Muirhead is hoping respective of Britain’s competitors tin emulate her golden badge astatine nan 2022 Winter Olympics. Photograph: Andrew Milligan/PA

In nan men’s skeleton, Matt Weston and Marcus Wyatt person won each 7 World Cup races this season. And, according to nan bookies, nan men’s and mixed curling teams are besides favourites to triumph a medal.

It helps that further resources person besides been pumped into technological innovations. At nan University of Bath a formation simulator has been converted to simulate immoderate skeleton way crossed nan world, allowing nan squad to get hours of other believe connected nan tally they will brushwood successful Cortina.

Weston and Wyatt are besides waiting to spot whether they will beryllium capable to usage their caller aerodynamic helmets, which could springiness them an moreover bigger advantage. “We effort to push nan boundaries and find those gains, this is conscionable 1 of nan parts of invention we do arsenic GB and I deliberation we do it beautiful well,” says Weston.

Wyatt, meanwhile, is hopeful nan helmet will beryllium cleared. “We judge it is legal, it’s presently being debated. All of our occurrence has been pinch our existent helmet, truthful for maine it is nan tiniest small point successful nan background.”

Meanwhile, successful sports wherever velocity is nan awesome factor, typical tech skinsuits person been introduced to trim resistance successful competition, allowing athletes to spell faster.

The awesome unknown, of course, is what different nations person planned. “We cognize that successful immoderate of those sports, peculiarly nan sliding sports, nan Germans tally an R&I programme which is worthy millions,” says UK Sport’s caput of performance, Kate Baker. “They could propulsion thing retired connected nan day.

“I deliberation if you walk immoderate clip hanging astir immoderate of our sports, not conscionable nan wintertime sports, you will spot that they are each perpetually looking astatine what everybody other is doing. I wouldn’t spell truthful acold arsenic to opportunity that it’s an arms race. It is decidedly an expertise race, though.

“Where different nations person a sliding track, aliases a skis slope connected their doorstep, they are capable to do nan benignant of behind-closed-doors worldly that we tin do much easy successful cycling than we tin successful wintertime sports.”

But for each nan accent connected tech and talent, those competing cognize their chances could travel down to a fortunate break aliases really they grip nan pressure.

“None of america really want to make nan Olympics a large thing, but it is successful reality and there’s nary hiding that,” says Brookes, nan 19-year-old who could extremity up winning 2 medals and being Britain’s biggest prima astatine these Games. “I’ve been frightened that I’ll spell to nan Olympics, do nan champion I can, and it not beryllium enough. You cognize nan full world’s going to beryllium watching, and that decidedly adds much pressure.”

Muirhead agrees. “A batch of these athletes person 20-30 seconds of competition. Then there’s nan jeopardy of wintertime sports. A incorrect edge, that could beryllium it over. It comes down to millimetres, milliseconds. But let’s conscionable benignant of dream we’re connected nan correct broadside of nan inch.”

Team GB will dream to get disconnected to a beardown commencement connected Monday pinch Muir and Brookes going for golden successful nan skis slopestyle and snowboard large aerial respectively, while nan mixed curling squad will dream to beryllium competing successful nan semi-finals.

Whatever happens, Muirhead expects nan federation to quickly renew its once-every-four-year fling pinch wintertime sports. “What does nan Winter Olympics not have?” she asks. “You’ve sewage speed, flair and I conjecture a spot of chaos thrown successful arsenic well. And that’s what group emotion to watch connected TV.”

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