UK Sport Ends Funding to GB Snowsport
4th August 2026
Last modified on August 6th, 2026
UK Sport says it will find a new way to deliver £12.5m of funding to athletes and coaches before the 2030 Winter Olympics and Paralympics that will be held in France. UPDATED
The development raises numerous questions about the future of elite snowsport competition and what has been going on behind the scenes.
UK Sport clearly has lost confidence in GB Snowsport and is now funding the athletes directly.
UK Sport will be commissioning an independent review into the governance of GB Snowsport.
The details of what has made it reach this conclusion are unclear.
“UK Sport has immense belief and confidence in the current cohort of British snowsport athletes, and their coaches, who achieved the historic performances seen at the 2026 Milan Cortina Games,” UK Sport said in a statement.
“The future potential of this group has led to the UK Sport Board allocating a £12.5m investment into their success for the Alpes 2030 cycle.
“The UK Sport Board has decided not to route the investment for snowsport through GB Snowsport once funding for the Milan Cortina cycle ends.
“UK Sport will be engaging constructively with GB Snowsport, to explore a number of options in determining an alternative delivery model for the £12.5 million investment ringfenced to support the UK’s snowsport athletes ahead of Alpes 2030.
“It is intended that the new delivery model will be confirmed later this year to allow funding to flow seamlessly into the Alpes 2030 cycle.
“This would allow snowsport athletes to be protected and to continue to benefit from public funding.
“UK Sport has written today to all funded snowsport athletes to make them aware of this decision, to affirm our full commitment to them ahead of Alpes 2030 and to commit to continue paying athletes grants directly into the new cycle whilst we address these challenges.
“UK Sport is also committed to enabling snowsport athletes to continue to access the wider benefits available to funded athletes during this period.
“Separately, UK Sport will be commissioning an independent review into the governance of GB Snowsport.”
GB Snowsport says its governance remains “strong and appropriate”.
The news comes six months after Team GB had a successful Winter Olympics at Milan-Cortina in Italy.
The team won five medals with the first gold medal on snow.
Charlotte Bankes and Huw Nightingale, 2026 Olympic Champions in Mixed Team SBX. Image © Sam Mellish/Team GB
The funding is part of a record investment of more than £33m into winter sports for the four-year cycle.
“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,” said the director of performance and people at UK Sport, Kate Baker.
“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 GB Snowsport said it was “disappointed” by the decision but will continue to work with UK Sport.
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Snowsport England has reacted.
“We unreservedly welcome the record investment of over £33 million by UK Sport to support the UK’s Olympic and Paralympic winter sport athletes: it is undoubtedly a significant vote of confidence in the athletes and their coaches following a record equalling result at Milan Cortina.
“For snowsports, a ringfenced amount of £12.5 million is an overwhelming endorsement of the future potential of our athletes as they prepare for Alpes 2030.
“However, we know that the impact of this investment goes further than Elite sport and that it inspires the next generation: following Milan Cortina we saw a positive increase in the number of affiliated clubs, registered competitors across disciplines and Snowsport England coaches / instructors.
Despite requests, it is not appropriate for us to comment publicly on the widely reported concerns raised by UK Sport around the governance of GB Snowsports or on the UK Sport Board decision not to route the investment through GB Snowsports once funding for the Milan Cortina cycle ends.
Our focus remains on our athlete development pathway, governance, compliance and safeguarding and on continuing the steady growth in participation in the sports we love.
“As Snowsport England, we represent approximately 75% of facilities, clubs and athletes within the UK and we will remain focussed on improving and relaunching several of our Snowsport England talent pathways, creating more opportunities from grassroots to gold and ensuring the pipeline of talent to elite snowsports is as strong as possible.
“The ongoing support from Sport England and this renewed funding commitment by UK Sport provides great confidence and certainty for the future.
“We are entirely committed to working with all parties to ensure the new delivery model referenced by UK Sport successfully serves our athletes and sport.”
The continuing financial support for its athletes has been welcomed by Snowsport Scotland.
“We welcome the confirmation that £12.5 million has been ringfenced to support athletes, coaches and performance programmes through to the Alpes 2030 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games,” said Snowsport Scotland in a statement.
“Our priority remains protecting and strengthening the performance pathway for Scottish athletes while working constructively with UK Sport, sportscotland and partners across British snowsports.”
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.
It’s CEO is Vicky Gosling, OBE.
Vicky Gosling, CEO GB Snowsport. Image © PlanetSKI
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.
UK Sport 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.”
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