UK Sport cut £9 million ahead of Beijing winter olympics 2022

UK Sport will cut its Winter Olympic funding by almost £9 million heading into Beijing 2022.

Team GB had a record-breaking medal haul at  Pyeonchang 2018 as they won five medals, eclipsing their previous best of four set in 1924 and 2014.

Although sports like skeleton will receive an increase in funding, others such as bobsleigh, figure skating and short track have been cut entirely.

UK Sport invested over £32m — shared across eight winter Olympic and Paralympic sports — ahead of the 2018 games, more than double the £14m spent ahead of Sochi 2014.

This included £5m on bobsleigh, £4.8m on short track and more than £6.5m on skeleton — the most spent on any winter sport.

Team GB won gold and bronze in the skeleton, However, they failed to win any medals in the bobsleigh or short track and it seems those sports have paid the price for falling short of their medal targets.

“Today marks an important step on the path to Beijing 2022 as we target further inspirational success at the Winter Games,” UK Sport CEO Liz Nicholl said.

“While UK Sport would like to be able to invest in every Olympic and Paralympic sport our role is to prioritise within agreed resources in order to protect and enhance the medal potential within the system.

“We believe these strategic investments will deliver medal winning success to inspire the nation once again in Beijing in 2022.”

Based on assessed future medal potential, the main investment will be split into skeleton (up to £7.2m), ski and snowboard (up to £6.75m) and curling (up to £6.35m).

Short-track speed skater Elise Christie, a key medal hopeful in Pyeongchang who just fell short, will have her funding protected, despite an overall cut for the sport.

“As a programme, we are gutted to announce that our support from UK Sport has come to an end,” the 27-year-old said.

“As a team, we will be working hard to figure out our next steps.”