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The Road to Milano-Cortina ‘26 Road to Milano Cortina 2026


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Excellent skeleton results so far this season. 5 golds and 9 medals from 9 races. The men are racing tomorrow, but the Women now have a short Christmas break before the season resumes in Winterberg in Germany on January 2nd.

 

On the women's side, currently GB are occupying the second of the two slots for 3 Olympic qualifiers, which would be an amazing achievement given the men's squad have been comparatively stronger the last olympic cycle.

 

The way the qualifying system works is the top two nations with the 3rd highest ranked athlete are allocated 3 quotas. :GER are almost certainly going to take one of those slots, leaving GB in a battle to secure the second.

 

Currently GB's 3rd ranked athlete is Freya Tarbit in 12th on 488 points.

The :CHN's 3rd best is on 440 in 19th, although I believe she has more minor races counting towards her ranking which should be outweighed by world cup points.

:USA no 3 is ranked 26th on 348.

 

Behind that the competition drops off rather steeply.

 

GB are in a good position and I hope they take all 3 quotas, as all 3 athletes are capable of medalling on their day. I will note however, that the next tracks are much more drivers tracks, so the start boost of the British athletes may not be a beneficial, but the same will be of the Chinese and Americans.

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  • 2 weeks later...

6th Place for Tarbit today has given GB a bit of breathing space, she's now the 3rd GB slider in 10th on 664 points.

 

:CHN No 3 is on 516

 

:USA No 3 is on 414

 

With only 2 races left it's looking more likely all 3 athletes will qualify.

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  • 3 weeks later...
20 hours ago, Dragon said:

Right, I am going to publish my preview of Team GB's medal chances later today

Sorry - this got delayed a bit.

 

Part 1 -

Alpine skiing - 3 men 0 women

Female quota declined so it's only 3 male slalom specialists going to Italy.

 

Team is;

Dave Ryding. In his final season of skiing, the former World Cup race winner has been in reasonable form so far this winter and a top ten finish is just possible.

Laurie Taylor . Missed his first podium for a fraction of second in the first race of the winter but hasn't reached that form again. A top ten would be possible on best form.

Billy Major. European cup champion in 2022, score World Cup points in 4 of 7 races this winter but usually in the lower half of the top 30. Top twenty prediction

 

Biathlon - 1 man 1 woman 

Team has not been named

Have Team GB accepted the quota?

 

Bobsleigh - 1 sled in each event though 2 sleds were allocated in the male events

 

Brad Hall - pilot 2 man / 4 man. One of the six best drivers in the World Cup with one bronze medal in World Cup events this winter. Oddly that came in the last 2 man race despite him being historically better in 4 man. Should finish in the top 6 in both events although medal(s) are not out of the question. Unfortunately a German mistake might be needed.

 

Nick Gleeson was not selected to drive a second male sled despite earning a place

 

Adele Nicol - monobob / pilot 2 woman. Form dropped off in 2024 after an injury. Has struggled to maintain her momentum after some good results previously

Edited by Dragon
correction
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5 minutes ago, Dragon said:

Sorry - this got delayed a bit.

 

Part 1 -

Alpine skiing - 3 men 0 women

Female quota declined so it's only 3 male slalom specialists going to Italy.

 

Team is;

Dave Ryding. In his final season of skiing, the former World Cup race winner has been in reasonable form so far this winter and a top ten finish is just possible.

Laurie Taylor . Missed his first podium for a fraction of second in the first race of the winter but hasn't reached that form again. A top ten would be possible on best form.

Billy Major. European cup champion in 2022, score World Cup points in 4 of 7 races this winter but usually in the lower half of the top 30. Top twenty prediction

 

Biathlon - 1 man 1 woman 

Team has not been named

Have Team GB accepted the quota?

 

Bobsleigh - 1 sled in each event except 2 in the 4 man event

 

Brad Hall - pilot 2 man / 4 man. One of the six best drivers in the World Cup with one bronze medal in World Cup events this winter. Oddly that came in the last 2 man race despite him being historically better in 4 man. Should finish in the top 6 in both events although medal(s) are not out of the question. Unfortunately a German mistake might be needed.

 

Nick Gleeson - pilot 4 man. Hall's former brakeman has been driving for 2 seasons at European Cup level. Should make the top 20

 

Adele Nicol - monobob / pilot 2 woman. Form dropped off in 2024 after an injury. Has struggled to maintain her momentum after some good results previously

Isnt Gleeson also in the 2-Man? He's much better in the 2 as well and could finish top 15 in that.

Edited by Surreal
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1 hour ago, Surreal said:

Isnt Gleeson also in the 2-Man? He's much better in the 2 as well and could finish top 15 in that.

Bobsleigh team just got officially announced, and BBSA rejected Gleeson's quota, so he's not in the team at all...

 

He had allegations against him by members of the GB Bobsleigh team post-Beijing. Wonder if that's why he wasn't selected?

 

Or was it that the selection policy stated he had to compete on the World Cup circuit (which he didn't do)?

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25 minutes ago, Surreal said:

Bobsleigh team just got officially announced, and BBSA rejected Gleeson's quota, so he's not in the team at all...

 

He had allegations against him by members of the GB Bobsleigh team post-Beijing. Wonder if that's why he wasn't selected?

 

Or was it that the selection policy stated he had to compete on the World Cup circuit (which he didn't do)?

They could have entered him in World Cup races if they had faith in him....

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GB preview part 2

 

Cross-Country Skiing - 3 men 1 woman

Anna Pryce - since she switched to compete for GB from Canada she's had a single top 30 finish in the World Cup but she's still young and improving. Maybe a top 40

Joe Davies -He seems only to be entered in sprint events but has a top six finish over 20k in the World Cup this year. Maybe racing under distance.

James Clugnet - Solid but unexciting sprinter.

Andrew Musgrave - Reliable distance racer. Regular top 10 finish at the World Championship. A medal would be a major surprise but not impossible

 

Curling - Men, women, mixed

Now we're talking...

Bruce Mouat's men are probably gold medal favourites. They won silver at the last Olympics and are the reigning World Champions. A medal is very, very likely.

Rebecca Morrison's women are ranked 19th in the world but won silver at November's European Championships. An Olympic medal would not be a shock but it would be a pleasant surprise

Mouat/Dodds - mixed. Reigning silver medalists from the World Championships. They should contend with Italy and Canada for gold.

 

Figure Skating - Team, Women, Pairs, Ice Dance

Team - Won't be last, also will not reach final

Women (Spours) - 20th to 30th

Pairs - Improvement seems to have stalled compared to top teams - Top 10 would be a great finish

Ice Dance - solid top 6 duo. A medal would have to rely on a perfect performance and possible mistakes by the opposition

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