Simply put, the news that was released on Tuesday 4 August, that UK Sport would not be directing the financial award through GB Snowsport but awarding the money directly to the athletes on Personal Performance Awards, means the athletes are still being funded. The amount, £12.5 million, is the largest winter sports amount in the 2026 - 2030 Olympic cycle.The statement, released on the UK Sport Website was responded to by GB Snowsport explaining their “disappointment” that the funding model would be changed.
Gavin Thomson, Chair of Snowsport Scotland, explained the positive side of the news:"The most important message today is that the £12.5 million investment in British snowsports remains committed and that athletes will continue to be supported.”
UK Sport’s conformation that this “record investment into the UK’s winter sport performance programmes as a sign of its belief in the potential of the UK’s winter sport athletes.”
The announcement continued “UK Sport has immense belief and confidence in the current cohort of British snowsport athletes, and their coaches, who achieved the historic performances seen at the 2026 Milan Cortina Games. The future potential of this group has led to the UK Sport Board allocating a £12.5m investment into their success for the Alpes 2030 cycle.
Announcements
“The UK Sport Board has decided not to route the investment for snowsport through GB Snowsport once funding for the Milan Cortina cycle ends.”
And it is this last paragraph that has caused the ‘disappointment’ for GB Snowsport.
GB Snowsport announced in their release “We do remain committed to continuing to work with UK Sport on these matters in a constructive way. However, we reserve the right to keep all options open to ensure that the achievements of the past four years are not lost as we approach another European Games.
“We have recently concluded an independent governance review funded by UK Sport, which has confirmed that our governance standards remain strong and appropriate. We look forward to engaging fully and robustly in any new review, which we are confident will reach the same conclusions.”
UK Sport have also announced a separate independent review into GB Snowsport’s governance.
Confidence
So why have UK Sport made this decision?
Kate Baker, director of performance and people at UK Sport told the BBC: "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.”
The loss of faith in how the governing body is being governed leads to a huge question mark on the management of GB Snowsport. During her tenure as CEO, Vicky Gosling has worked with three Chair of the Board, with the position being advertised again at the moment.
It is a concern whether this loss of faith by UK Sport will have an impact on sponsors that are currently supporting the athletes?
The GBS Alpine Foundation has since its inception in October 2024 ring fenced the money it has raised from benefactors and directed it to the athletes.
This announcement will not help the Governing Body in their attempts to appeal to the businesses in the City of London and beyond in securing sponsorship for the next Olympic cycle.
Sport Org
UK Sport is always looking at ways to improve the management of the sports it is providing funding to and a result of this is the creation of Sport Org.
The UK Sport announcement explained “UK Sport has supported the creation of Sport Org, a new, specialist, multi-sport performance delivery organisation established to operate performance programmes on behalf of National Governing Bodies. By bringing more of the UK's leading performance experts and resources together, Sport Org aims to provide greater stability for athletes, drive efficiencies in how money is spent, enable greater access to performance expertise and, ultimately, better support athletes to succeed on the world stage.”
This set up has already seen Curling and Para-Curling programmes being delivered by Sport Org with the British Bobsleigh and Skeleton Association programme transitioning into it after the 2030 Olympic cycle.
The purpose of Sport Org with be to run elite performance programs on behalf of national governing bodies. This will help create synergy and reduce duplication of effort.
The issue of the faith in the governance of GB Snowsport is the crux of the whole issue.
City of London support
What remains to be seen is how long the management of GB Snowsport can remain in post and if this starts to affect sponsorships from the City and further afield.
City AM highlighted the lack of London businesses supporting the GB Snowsport programmes back in February 2024. Interviewing Mark Quinn, the chief executive of Quinn Estates, a property company whose sponsorship saw their branding appear on the necks of the Team GB World Cup skiing race suits that season.
Quinn was “adamant Britain can see sustained success if other businesses, and organisations who call the City of London or Canary Wharf their home, back home athletes rather than forcing them to rely on governing bodies.
“There is a role to play for UK Sport, but I actually think there’s a bigger role for British business,” Quinn told City A.M.
“And you had Land Rover sponsoring the American ski team. What were Land Rover doing sponsoring them? That’s what’s been really disappointing is the lack of engagement from London business in what can be an incredibly successful connection for them.
Conclusion
While the announcement of funding from UK Sport is positive, the trickle down in terms of participation is also key. Snowsport England released a statement including “For snowsports, a ringfenced amount of £12.5 million is an overwhelming endorsement of the future potential of our athletes as they prepare for Alpes 2030. However, we know that the impact of this investment goes further than Elite sport and that it inspires the next generation: following Milan Cortina we saw a positive increase in the number of affiliated clubs, registered competitors across disciplines and Snowsport England coaches / instructors.”
Snowsport Wales were also asked for a comment but declined to reply.
With the current funding cycle ending in November 2026, it leaves a short amount of time for changes and confidence in the governance to be restored.
Ultimately, will this situation lead to the demise of GB Snowsport, a body that was only formed in 2010 after the financial collapse of Snowsport GB in the run up to the 2010 Olympics?
Links
UK Sport statement https://www.uksport.gov.uk/news/2026/08/04/record-investment-in-winter-sport-athletes-to-push-on-from-historic-milan-cortina-success)
GB Snowsport statement https://gbsnowsport.com/gb-snowsport-statement-on-uk-sport-funding/