• Overall increase in funding for winter sports of over £600,000
• Funding increase to protect and enhance medal potential in Bobsleigh, Curling, Figure Skating, Short Track Speed Skating and Para Ski and Snowboard
• Funding removed from Wheelchair Curling as they are unable to demonstrate realistic medal potential for PyeongChang
• Total winter sport investment now a record, over £31m of National Lottery and Exchequer funding, for PyeongChang Investment Cycle
UK Sport, the nation’s high performance sports agency, has today (24 June 2016) announced an uplift to funding for winter sports as they prepare for the PyeongChang Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2018.
Following the second Annual Investment Review for winter sports in the PyeongChang investment cycle, five sports have been given increases to their funding awards in order to protect and enhance their medal potential in PyeongChang. These sports are Bobsleigh, Curling, Figure Skating, Short Track Speed Skating and Para Ski and Snowboard.
Wheelchair Curling, having been relegated from the World Wheelchair Curling Championship in 2015, and then failing to requalify at the World Wheelchair-B Curling Championship held in November 2015, were unable to demonstrate credible medal potential through the annual review process and so no further investment will be made in that sport at this time.
Investment into the two other UK Sport funded winter sports, Skeleton and Ski and Snowboard, remains unchanged.
Director of Performance Simon Timson, said: “While Bobsleigh, Short Track and Para Ski and Snowboard had a good 2015/16 season, there were some mixed results across the rest of our funded winter sports. Through the annual investment review process we have identified ways to protect and enhance medal potential at PyeongChang 2018 and invested accordingly. We continue to aspire and strive toward another record breaking Games in PyeongChang.”
The annual investment review process takes into consideration each sport’s performance against targets over the past year, as well as the governance of the sport. Sports are invited to discuss the annual investment review with a UK Sport panel where appropriate, which also includes independent scrutiny. Recommendations by the panel are taken to an internal investment board, but must ultimately be ratified by the Board of UK Sport, who met yesterday and approved the recommendations in full.