2026 Winter Olympics Milano-Cortina

[Skipper_The_Eyechild]

Yeah, it's great. Except for figure skating, the second worst "sport" ever after the karate dancing they had at the Tokyo Olympics. Will still force myself to watch any British medal hopes.

I think a bit less of all the sports that have some subjectivity involved, they're rarely as fun to watch.

[PeterWithesShin]

Pretty much anything artistic is cack mind. That goes for the summer games as well.

[paul_e]

No new sports but we're looking very strong in the mens skeleton and the womens freestyle skiing and snowboarding so they're probably the ones worth watching. Decent shot for medals in the mens curling and the figureskating as well though.

Thanks but, for future reference, it's "skellington". Can't stand figure skating but might just be able to force myself to watch Britain's ones if they have a medal chance.

Same, as for the joyless bastard above I quite enjoy watching almost anything where someone can show off a supreme level of skill, so I generally enjoy things like the halfpipe and slopestyle and my wife absolutely loves watching the figureskating so we'll definitely have it on for those. Aside from that there's something appealing about the bob, skeleton and luge so I usually watch a fair bit of it, even if it can get a bit tedious if they're all really good.

[ADVILLAFAN]

I'd love to havd a go on the Bobsleigh (I'd be in the middle) and maybe the head first on a tea tray event.

No way I'd do the feet first tea tray event though.

Assume I'm naturally gifted at Curling, with my ancestry, but haven't given it a go. How hard can it be?

Enjoy the events where they race against each other with lots of crashing.

[manic-road]

Matt Weston and Marcus Wyatt have a great chance of medals in the skeleton, I had a bash at trying to make the GB team many years ago but couldn't sprint fast enough for the first 4-5 seconds before loading onto the sled.

Enjoy watching the bobsleigh,luge, snowboard boardercross, cross country skiing and the downhill.

[Brazilian Villain]

Assume I'm naturally gifted at Curling, with my ancestry, but haven't given it a go. How hard can it be?

You'd also have won the 400m in the Summer Olympics, but you weren't religious enough.

[Brazilian Villain]

The Winter Olympics is great. When I was growing up, I used to look forward to it more than the Summer version.

[UK Redsox]

Pretty much anything artistic is cack mind. That goes for the summer games as well.

I need to find that post I did about a ‘Competitive Arts Olympics’, with the plan to separate the subjective events from the proper sports.

I’ll watch some of the Winter Olympics (Ice Hockey, Skiing, tea tray). Haven’t watched any of the Summer version since 2008.

[Skipper_The_Eyechild]

The Summer Olympics is my favourite sporting event to watch. Fuck the world cup!

[rougegorge]

I enjoy watching the Winter Olympics. When i went to Oslo a few years ago I watched the biathlon which was great fun and a test of skill, nerve and athleticism.

I do find it frustrating though that UK Sport funds Skeleton and Skiing/Snowboard much more than accessible sports like Badminton, Squash, Table Tennis, Basketball and Volleyball.

Fosusing on a few individuals to get medals at Skeleton or acrobatic skiing and snowboarding hardly generates a legacy with people heading off to take part.

[PeterWithesShin]

I like the skiing and shooting one.

[paul_e]

I enjoy watching the Winter Olympics. When i went to Oslo a few years ago I watched the biathlon which was great fun and a test of skill, nerve and athleticism.

I do find it frustrating though that UK Sport funds Skeleton and Skiing/Snowboard much more than accessible sports like Badminton, Squash, Table Tennis, Basketball and Volleyball.

Fosusing on a few individuals to get medals at Skeleton or acrobatic skiing and snowboarding hardly generates a legacy with people heading off to take part.

Skeleton has sort of created a legacy though hasn't it, given we got medals in it for 5 events in a row and then, despite missing out last time, we're looking strong to add at least 1 more this time. To do that as a country with no course is ridiculous. It's never going to be a high participation sport but that doesn't mean we shouldn't fund it when we've clearly found a way to churn out competitive athletes regularly.

Snowboarding/freestyle skiing isn't there yet with the medal legacy but again our funding does seem to be showing real results with 4 genuine medal contenders this time following 3 medals in 2018. In this case though there is definitely a massive growth in interest. The sports you mention we're never going to earn those medals that would generate interest because other nations are so far ahead of us and, in the case of the latter 2, the sort of people we'd need to be attracted to those sports would have a negative impact on our 'core' sports of football, cricket and rugby (and those 3 are so much more popular, and have so much higher earning potential, that it would be a very difficult task to turn them around).

We aren't a big enough population for us to put proper funding into everything so it is right to focus on things where we can turn that money into tangible success.

2022 was a shit year for us mostly because local weather conditions and covid travel restrictions completely fucked our preparation for it.

[rougegorge]

I enjoy watching the Winter Olympics. When i went to Oslo a few years ago I watched the biathlon which was great fun and a test of skill, nerve and athleticism.

I do find it frustrating though that UK Sport funds Skeleton and Skiing/Snowboard much more than accessible sports like Badminton, Squash, Table Tennis, Basketball and Volleyball.

Fosusing on a few individuals to get medals at Skeleton or acrobatic skiing and snowboarding hardly generates a legacy with people heading off to take part.

Skeleton has sort of created a legacy though hasn't it, given we got medals in it for 5 events in a row and then, despite missing out last time, we're looking strong to add at least 1 more this time. To do that as a country with no course is ridiculous. It's never going to be a high participation sport but that doesn't mean we shouldn't fund it when we've clearly found a way to churn out competitive athletes regularly.

Snowboarding/freestyle skiing isn't there yet with the medal legacy but again our funding does seem to be showing real results with 4 genuine medal contenders this time following 3 medals in 2018. In this case though there is definitely a massive growth in interest. The sports you mention we're never going to earn those medals that would generate interest because other nations are so far ahead of us and, in the case of the latter 2, the sort of people we'd need to be attracted to those sports would have a negative impact on our 'core' sports of football, cricket and rugby (and those 3 are so much more popular, and have so much higher earning potential, that it would be a very difficult task to turn them around).

We aren't a big enough population for us to put proper funding into everything so it is right to focus on things where we can turn that money into tangible success.

2022 was a shit year for us mostly because local weather conditions and covid travel restrictions completely fucked our preparation for it.

I get it that UK Sport want to get medals, but it is still only creating a legacy of a few elite sportspeople in minority sports. Skeleton is a niche sport even within winter sports.

We have a very large population, so there is plenty of room for other higher participation sports. I agree that getting the depth may take time, but France and Italy for example have good performance levels at several team sports which UK Sport will not really support.

We are very good at spending on technology and equipment (take rowing and cycling) and it pays off. Skeleton and bobsleigh also fall into that category. They need raw strength, speed but also need very good equipment (admittedly with a good dose of bravery).

If the medal table is the be all and end all, then UK Sport are right, but they certainly don't prioritise accessible sport.