Jeffries and Pendry complete 53-strong GB Winter Olympics squad

Team GB will send a 53-member team to the Winter Olympics after biathletes Jacques Jeffries and Shawna Pendry became the final members of the party selected to travel to Milan Cortina.

The team selected for the Games is larger than the 50-person squad sent to Beijing in 2022.

Jeffries and Pendry will make their Olympic debuts in Italy, with Team GB returning to biathlon after not sending athletes in the discipline four years ago.

“I’m thrilled to be welcoming Jacques and Shawna to Team GB for the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games,” said GB chef de mission Eve Muirhead.

“This moment is a testament to their hard work they’ve put into achieving the dream of standing of that Olympic stage. Our team for 2026 is now complete, and we’re ready for the final push towards the Games.”

UK Sport believes Team GB could win between four and eight medals at next month’s Games.

Among the GB medal hopes are Snowboard World Championship gold medallists Mia Brookes and Charlotte Bankes, and freestyle skier Zoe Atkin, the world champion in the women’s halfpipe.

The nation’s best medal haul at a Winter Games is five, achieved at Sochi 2014 and matched in Pyeongchang four years later, but Team GB came home from Beijing in 2022 with just two medals.

The BBC will broadcast more than 450 hours of live action from the Games, which run from Friday 6 to Sunday 22 February.