Beijing 2022 - Can Charlotte Bankes, Brad Hall and Bruce Mouat help Team GB make Winter Olympics history?
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Updated 24/01/2022 at 14:05 GMT
Great Britain and Northern Ireland have never won more than one gold medal at a single Winter Olympics, but after the team was finalised today, they are more equipped than ever to end that run of form. There are hopes throughout many of the sports - especially bobsleigh, snowboard and curling. Watch every moment of Beijing 2022 on discovery+.
Charlotte Bankes is arguably Britain's best hope for Winter Olympic gold
Image credit: Getty Images
Team GB have never won more than one gold medal at the Winter Olympics but Beijing 2022 surely offers the best chance to make history.
A squad of 50 athletes has been finalised containing world champions and regular podium finishers, making this contingent arguably the most talented that has ever been assembled by Britain.
There is talent throughout it - snowboarder Katie Ormerod is finding form again four years after a horrific injury ended her Pyeongchang challenge before it started. 17-year-old freestyle skier Kirsty Muir - Team GB’s youngest athlete - is already a World Cup silver medallist.
Eve Muirhead will help to reignite the nation’s four yearly obsession with curling at her fourth Games, while Laura Deas is hoping to keep the women’s skeleton title in British hands after Amy Williams landed it at Vancouver 2010 and Lizzy Yarnold continued that trend in Sochi and South Korea.
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There are hopes for the likes of freestyle skier Zoe Atkin, sister of Izzy - GB’s first Olympic skiing medallist, while former world champion James ‘Woodsy’ Woods is also a contender but has not yet regained his form after taking time out from the sport. Dave Ryding also produced the run of his life to become Britain's first ever World Cup alpine skiing champion, making him a contender for gold.
All of them can deliver on their day, but Eurosport focuses on three areas where gold could be a real possibility:
Charlotte Bankes - Snowboard Cross
February 9 - final approx 0750 GMT
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Britain's Charlotte Bankes is the world snowboard cross champion
Image credit: Getty Images
Surely the leading contender of all the British athletes, the snowboard cross world champion is in the form of her life - but in another world she could have already retired.
The 22-year-old is an athlete transformed since switching from representing France, who she competed for at the last two Winter Olympics. Disillusioned with the set-up, Bankes - who moved to the Alps with her British parents when she was little - thought about giving up after Pyeongchang 2018 before she spoke to GB Snowsport about moving over to compete for the country of her birth.
Bankes has since won the world title and has three World Cup victories and a second placed finish from five events this season.
“I'd spent four years just riding but not really enjoying it, and also not being able to train and it was pretty tough,” Bankes told Eurosport in December when she reflected on the crossroads of her career.
“I just wanted to get my health back, it was amazing support from the start. But changing to GB has been the start of a new career, really.”
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World champion Bankes claims second snowboard cross World Cup victory of weekend
The biggest problem for Bankes is the unpredictability of snowboard cross - one mistake from an athlete and the entire field could be wiped out as well. But she says over time, she has learnt to avoid - and live with - the chaos.
“You can let your instinct do the moves, you don't have to think about it too much,” she said.
“If you're thinking about it, you're probably too late already. For injuries, I think what's most important is the training we do in the summer. All the physical training, being strong and all that - it can help.
“But there's going to be crashes, unfortunately, and often it's the small stupid crashes where we hurt ourselves. It's about being as strong as possible to withstand all the impacts we take.”
Bruce Mouat - Curling
Men’s - starts February 2, final February 19
Mixed - starts February 2, final February 8
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Bruce Mouat and Jen Dodds are the mixed doubles curling world champions
Image credit: Getty Images
While Eve Muirhead will be by far the most recognisable face among Team GB’s curlers, that could change by the end of the Games if Bruce Mouat lives up to his promise.
The men’s skip is one of the most formidable competitors on the circuit and he is already a three-time World Championship medallist - including gold in the mixed doubles with childhood friend Jen Dodds.
Just months before that, Mouat and his rink had to settle for silver in the men’s competition, losing 10-5 to Sweden in the final. Later in 2021, Scotland got their revenge - beating the Swedes to the European title with an 8-5 victory.
Mouat, then, will be a force to be reckoned with in both of his disciplines, and with Britain yet to win more than one gold at one Games, he could be the key athlete to make history.
“My demeanour’s very different on the ice to off it,” Mouat told Eurosport last year.
Off the ice I don't take life too seriously, but when I'm on the ice you'll see that I've got a bit of a poker face and I don't tend to show much emotion.
Mouat is openly gay and revealed in an interview with the BBC last month coming out to his junior team eight years ago, after a discussion with a psychologist, transformed his life on and off the ice.
"I feel you have to have a great team dynamic in a curling team and to have that you have to be truthful and tell them exactly what you're feeling. I just felt like I couldn't do that,” he said.
"After I managed to tell them we had a great season and ended up winning the Scottish juniors for the first time before going on to win a bronze at the Worlds.
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Winter Olympics profile for British curlers Dodds and Mouat
"The following year we went on to win the World juniors, so for me, as much as I can't say for sure that it was my coming out that helped us to the success, it definitely seems to have some correlation."
Curling is a gruelling competition which lasts virtually the entire length of the Games and Mouat will be hoping to maintain momentum throughout in two events - he could be one of the start of the Winter Olympics..
Team Bobsleigh Brad
2-man - 14-15 February (From 1205 GMT, final heat 1315-1425 GMT)
4-man - 19-20 February (From 1200 GMT, final heat 0320-0410 GMT)
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Brad Hall's bobsleigh team have been in sensational form this season
Image credit: Getty Images
While Greg Rutherford’s bid to reach the Winter Olympics as a bobsledder was attracting all of the attention, Brad Hall and his rival British crew were turning heads on the World Cup circuit.
It has been an outstanding season for both the two-man and four-man crew, winning six medals on the top circuit and another at a test event for Beijing. He will be joined in the two-man by Nick Gleeson, who will also be in the four-man with Greg Cackett and Olympic debutant Taylor Lawrence.
Hall credits their recent success with all the cards finally falling into place. Not only do they have the talent, they now have the kit and sled to match, making them one of the best crews in the world. It is a remarkable achievement, given that they receive barely any funding and have had to work on the side to finance their dream - with a little help from sponsors.
The team has consistently talked about Beijing being a “leveller”. While the Germans are dominant, a large number of regular season events take place on their rivals’ home tracks - whereas GB do not have one of those at all. It has made them one of the most adaptable crews on the circuit, and there is belief something special could be achieved in China.
"Our stature has risen to the point where if we're not on the podium, it's really frustrating. The target used to be top six, now it's top three,” Cackett told Eurosport recently.
“Our rivals definitely see us differently. I'm quite friendly with most of the circuit, I run an online platform supporting international bobsledders. know a lot of the guys and I've become quite friendly with the top crew - Francesco Friedrich's team, and one of them, Thorsten Margis - a double Olympic champion - came over to me after we beat them recently and he was like 'you were so lucky, the snow came down and that's why you won!' - but I was like, 'we're in your head!’
They see us as a credible threat. In Germany, they have a very advanced programme with their technology and their kit and everything.They're also amazing athletes. But when you think of it, it’s a miracle that we’re even contending with our backgrounds.
“China is a leveller. Apart from the home nation having the advantage that is. We want it really bad.”
Hall and his team will be confident they can reach the podium in Beijing - but they are contenders to take the top honours.
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Watch every moment of Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022 on discovery+.
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