Christie ‘gutted’ as key winter sports are stripped of funding
Skating and bobsleigh lose Olympic backing Triple world champion granted ‘medal support’
Bobsleigh, short track speed skating, figure skating and wheelchair curling have been stripped of their funding for the 2022 Winter Olympics and Paralympics, after failing to win a medal between them at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games.
Triple world champion Elise Christie said she was “gutted” after short track speed skating was named as one of four sports to lose out in UK Sport cuts in which overall funding has been reduced from £32 million to £24 million in the four-year cycle to Beijing 2022.
Christie, however, has been singled out for an unspecified “medal support plan” that will see her helped financially for the Beijing Games. “I am gutted for our sport,” she said. “We have a fantastic team and great successes, particularly in the past two years.
“We’ll be working on a plan moving forward in the coming weeks. I don’t know exactly how that will look right now.”
Britain, primarily through Christie, had been expected to deliver between one and two short track speed skating medals in Pyeongchang after receiving £4.76million in funding, but failed to secure a podium finish, with Christie crashing out of two events and being disqualified from another.
Jon Eley, GB Short Track academy manager, said: “I really feel for the young kids of the sport who have ambitions to reach Olympic level. Sadly, without the profroome,
grammes they won’t have the same pathway opportunities to fulfil their potential.”
The British bobsleigh set-up, which was in receipt of £5million, suffered the same fate after a tumultuous build-up to the Olympics that saw athletes complain of “bullying, racism, sexism and discrimination” from their superiors, while three senior figures left their roles in the months that followed the Games.
UK Sport confirmed it will allocate a share of £1.5 million transition funding to the sports affected, to allow athletes to compete at world championship events next year.
“We fully understand the huge significance of our decisions and that they will impact on the hopes and dreams of the athletes, coaches and support staff that we are unable to invest in at this time,” said Liz Nicholl, UK Sport chief executive.
“We are committed to managing this with appropriate care and will be working closely with those affected by these decisions to help support them in their transition.”
Team GB enjoyed their most successful Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, where they won a record five medals, including a second successive skeleton gold for Lizzy Yarnold. Laura Deas and Dom Parsons won bronze medals in skeleton, while freestyle skier Izzy Atkin and snowboarder Billy Morgan claimed bronze.
Britain’s curlers, despite failing to deliver the expected one to two medals in Pyeongchang, can count themselves fortunate to have had their funding increased from £5.66million to £6.75million.