Winter Olympics 2026: Why 2026 marks a historic Games for Team Great Britain

Team GB will return home on Monday, after which post-Games reviews will begin, by both the British Olympic Association and the individual sports themselves.

Over the four-year cycle leading up to the Milan-Cortina Games, UK Sport invested £25.5m in winter sports in the Olympic programme, up from £22.2m for Beijing 2022.

Funding for the next cycle, the lead-up to the 2030 Olympics, will be confirmed and announced in the summer, although individual sports have already received a provisional figure for planning purposes.

But although it is an important metric, funding is not based solely on the number of medals won, or the reward for them. UK Sport also looks at the future potential, as well as the impact and resonance on the British viewing public.

Baker told the BBC that Team GB’s athletes had gone “above and beyond” in providing value for money, and asked how they could build on that success now. “The truth is we’ve been thinking about it for the last four years,” she said. “We’ve already been working on building for those next Games and certainly the next.”

“We have some real talent coming through, there is no shortage of British talent, and we know we can show we can mix it with the best on the world stage when it counts.

“The next four years are about supporting those talents coming through and also making sure we do everything we can so they can be the best they can be when they get here on finals day.”

However, UK Sport’s investment is not an ever-growing pot, and the sport is encouraged to work together and share resources where possible to build for the greater good.

“We know we have the talent and ability and the world has now seen that,” said Gosling, whose foundation GB Snowsport received £7.3m of UK Sport funding for its 2026 Olympic program but had to generate additional commercial revenue.

“We can win medals with what we have. We have proven that, but we have more potential than we are showing now.”

She added: “This is just the beginning. This is not the peak for us. There is so much more we can achieve. I am very excited because the athletes who are competing and who are about to be gone are those athletes who are still very young and have a great future ahead of them.”

“And guess what? 2030 is on our doorstep and we’ll be back and show it off. Let’s hope we turn those near misses into golds. The world is our oyster.”