We’re just 100 days out from the 24th edition of the Winter Olympics and it’s time to get seriously excited for Beijing 2022. Over 80 nations will be competing from February 4th to February 20th, across 109 events in seven different sports and among them are a whole host of Brits looking to bring home gold. Here are five members of Team GB to keep an eye on next year...
Gus Kenworthy - Freestyle Skiing
A guest judge in RuPaul’s Drag Race, star of American Horror Story: 1984, successful YouTuber and Winter Olympic silver medallist to boot, Gus Kenworthy has built some CV at just 30-years-old.
The Chelmsford-born freestyle skiing star had represented the US, with whom he won that silver in Sochi in 2014, but switched to Team GB in 2019. Kenworthy won Ski World Cup gold in Calgary under the Union Jack banner last year, a promising sign ahead of his showing in the Chinese capital next year.
Katie Ormerod - Snowboarding
It’ll be a case of third time lucky at the Winter Olympics for the spectacularly talented snowboarder Katie Ormerod when she lines up in Beijing. The 24-year-old from Brighouse narrowly missed out on qualification for Sochi in 2014 and was cruelly ruled out on the eve of the 2018 Games after breaking her heel.
Ormerod brings some serious pedigree to the Games with her. In 2014, aged 16, she became the first female snowboarder to land a double cork 1080, one of the most complex manoeuvres in the sport. She then became the first British snowboarder to claim a Crystal Globes in 2020, has medalled at the X-Games and claimed five slopestyle medals in the 2019-20 season to win the overall title.
Laura Deas - Skeleton
Laura Deas will have her eyes firmly set on gold in February after seizing bronze in the skeleton in PyeongChang four years ago, becoming Wales’ first female Winter Olympic medal winner in the process.
The former tetrathlon, netball and North Wales hockey star found the sport of skeleton through the Girls4Gold programme in 2009 and since then, aside from that Olympic medal win, has been a mainstay at World Championships and World Cups in recent years.
Bruce Mouat - Curling
Scottish curling king Bruce Mouat has the chance to clinch not one but two gold medals in Beijing. The 27-year-old will likely be selected for men’s and mixed events, with the men’s team looking to better the silver won in 2014 and the mixed event making its maiden appearance at the Olympics.
The Team GB captain took Scotland to silver in the Men’s Curling World Championships in Calgary this April, while he and Jen Dodds went one better in the Mixed Championships in Scotland in May. Promising form in the build-up to one of Britain's most beloved winter sports.
Dave Ryding - Alpine Skiing
Alpine skier Dave Ryding just keeps getting better and better. About to have his fourth crack at the Winter Olympics, the man from Chorley first competed in 2010 in Vancouver, placing 27th. Four years later in Sochi he was 17th, and last time out, in PyeongChang, he came ninth. Can he finally make the podium at the fourth time of asking? Given his consistent rise in quality, you wouldn’t bet against him.
Earlier this year, the 34-year-old claimed his third World Cup podium in Adelboden and finished 12th in the overall standings.
