UK Sport has withdrawn all funding from GB Snowsport for the next Olympic cycle, following an independent review into the organisation's governance. The decision comes six months after Team GB's most successful Winter Olympics at Milano-Cortina and coincides with record funding for British winter sport and parasport athletes ahead of the Alpes 2030 Games.
Record funding confirmed
UK Sport has guaranteed £12.5m to fund coaches and athletes across ski and snowboard events, including Paralympic equivalents, over the next four years. This is the largest share of a total £33m pool for winter sports, ahead of the £10.1m for bobsleigh and skeleton. While UK Sport affirmed its "full commitment" to athletes ahead of Alpes 2030, a new funding mechanism outside GB Snowsport is yet to be confirmed, with an announcement expected before the end of the year.
Governance concerns
GB Snowsport has changed chair twice in the past three years, with Michael Osterlin currently serving as interim chair. The body expressed disappointment at the funding decision, pledging to work with UK Sport on governance matters but reserving the right to "keep all options open" to preserve past achievements. GB Snowsport also noted it had recently completed an independent governance review funded by UK Sport, which confirmed its standards remain "strong and appropriate."
New delivery organisation
UK Sport also confirmed the creation of a "specialist, multisport performance delivery organisation" called Sport Org, which will take over elite programmes in certain sports. The curling programme is already operated by Sport Org, and the British Bobsleigh and Skeleton Association will transfer its programmes before Utah 2034. In 2022, Joanna Poulton resigned as BBSA chair over similar plans, calling them "laughable" and "naive."
Dr Kate Baker, UK Sport's director of performance and people, said: "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 other funding news, Ice Hockey UK will receive £445,000 to support its transition to a more commercially sustainable model, the first funding of its kind in the country.
