The country’s next generation of winter sport stars have today been named as part of Team GB for the 2017 European Youth Olympic Festival, set to be held in Turkey next month.
The PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Winter Games are just over a year away but for this group of 17 promising talents, their first taste of a multi-sport event will come in Erzurum from the 12th to the 18th February.
The athletes, all aged 15-17 years old, will compete across five of the nine disciplines at Erzurum 2017; alpine skiing, cross country skiing, figure skating, short track speed skating and snowboarding - with the Festival set to run from the 12th-18th February.
They will test themselves against Europe’s finest youth winter athletes as the Festival welcomes over 800 competitors from 40 nations for five days of action in Turkey.
Erzurum is hosting the 13th winter edition of EYOF with Team GB having sent athletes to all previous 12 Festivals. In total, nine disciplines will feature at Erzurum 2017, with biathlon, curling, ice hockey and ski jumping completing the programme.
With many of the senior Team GB athletes working on the road to the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Winter Games, EYOFs play a crucial role in the development of young British athletes and provides multi-sport event experience that helps them along the route to achieving their own Olympic dreams.
Alpine Skiing:
Ryan Brown, aged 17, from Courmayeur, Italy
Abigail Bruce, 16, Leatherhead
Alicja Krahelski, 17, Wimbledon
Olivia Ward, 16, Betws-Y-Coed
Angus Wills, 17, Battersea
Cross Country Skiing:
Brodie Murray, aged 17, from Huntly
Fergus Newman, 17, Huntly
Oliver Newman, 17, Huntly
Jack Nicholls, 17, Huntly
Figure Skating
Luke Digby, aged 15, from Sheffield
Anna Litvinenko, 15, Guildford
Short Track Speed Skating
Natalie Crawford, aged 15, from Nottingham
Holly Hoyland, 16, Nottingham
Peter Riches, 15, Putney
Niall Treacy, 16, Henley-in-Arden
Snowboarding
Maisie Hill, aged 15, Gloucester
Ellie Soutter, 16, Les Gets, France