Winter Olympics: Five Team GB women to watch at Beijing 2022

Nearly 3,000 athletes have travelled to Beijing for the 2022 Winter Olympics, which get underway today.

Participants will compete across seven sports, including skiing, ice hockey and curling.

Britain may not be renowned for its winter sport prowess, but the nation has still sent 50 athletes to the Chinese capital.

It may be unlikely to see a British athlete on the podium at the Winter Olympics, but it is not impossible. GiveMeSport Women pick out five women who could triumph against the odds.

As the reigning snowboard cross world champion, Charlotte Bankes is one of Team GB’s best medal prospects. The 26-year-old was born in Hemel Hempstead, near Britain’s biggest indoor ski slope, but moved to France when she was four.

Bankes competed for her adopted nation at Sochi 2014 and Pyeongchang 2018. She decided to switch to Britain in 2018 after the French Ski Federation failed to find a cure for her fractured pelvis.

Having fully recovered from her injury, Bankes will be hoping to earn her first Winter Olympic medal this month. She is in excellent form, winning three out of five World Cup races this season.

When to watch: February 9th

Katie Ormerod suffered a horrific injury just days before she was due to make her Olympic debut at Pyeongchang 2018.

She split her heel bone in half during a practice run, with medics taking two hours to cut her out of her boot.

Ormerod was forced to learn how to walk again but she has since made a full recovery, becoming the Briton to win a slopestyle World Cup title in 2020. She will now be looking to overcome the heartbreak of Pyeongchang 2018 and place on the podium in Beijing.

When to watch: Slopestyle February 6th, Big Air February 15th

Eve Muirhead is the skip of the British women’s