Belgium will be sending a record number of athletes to the Winter Olympics that will be held in Italy next month. Team Belgium will be sending 30 athletes to the Milano Cortina games. The names of those selected for Team Belgium were announced at a press conference held on Friday morning.
16 women and 14 men have been selected, making this the largest Belgian Winter Olympics delegation ever. The previous record dates from the 1936 Winter Olympics when 27 Belgians competed in Garmisch-Partenkirchen.
Last February, the head of the Belgian delegation, Olav Spahl, predicted that 31 Belgian athletes would be going to the 2026 Winter Olympics. His prediction has proved to be not far off the mark.
Team Belgium will consist of 8 biathletes, 6 speed skaters, 6 short track skaters, 3 alpine skiers, 2 figure skaters, 2 snowboarders, 1 bobsledder, 1 skeleton racer and 1 ski mountaineer.
3 athletes in particular have a good chance of winning a medal. Speed skater Bart Swings (photo above) will defend his Olympic title in the mass start, while Hanne Desmet hopes to win another Olympic medal in the short track. Meanwhile, Kim Meylemans has just won the skeleton World Cup and has high hopes of a medal in Milano Cortina. Another possible medal hopeful is the ski mountaineer Maximilien Drion. Ski mountaineering is a new discipline at this year’s Games.
The big surprise is the selection of the 15-year-old snowboarder Sky Remans. She told the press agency Belga that “The 2030 Winter Olympics in the French Alps are still my main goal, but it's great that I can now already get a taste of the Games. Sky Remens is 1 of 2 Belgian snowboarders that will be competing in Italy. The other is Evy Poppe. She had been struggling with an injury for several weeks but has been given the green light by Team Belgium’s medical staff.
The Milan and Cortina Winter Games start on Friday 6 Febraury and will conclude on Sunday 22 February.