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Eight athletes have been conditionally selected to represent the New Zealand Team at the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games, subject to the NZOC receiving a quota for each event.
This is the first wave of selection, with the potential for more athletes to be named in January 2026 after European winter performances.
The eight athletes selected will be hoping to build on New Zealand’s most successful Winter Olympic Games at Beijing 2022, where Kiwi athletes claimed a silver and two gold medals.
New Zealand’s most decorated Winter Olympian, Zoi Sadowski-Synnott made history in Beijing and is back to take to the slopes in the Big Air and Slopestyle
She won New Zealand’s first Winter Olympic gold medal in Snowboard Slopestyle, alongside a silver in Big Air. She also won a Big Air bronze medal at PyeongChang 2018.
Sadowski-Synnott has three Snowboard Slopestyle World Championships to her name. In 2025 alone, she claimed four World Cup podiums, including three gold, a gold and bronze at X Games and capped the year as the first Kiwi female to bring home the FIS Crystal Globe for topping the overall Snowboard Slopestyle World Cup standings.
Alice Robinson returns for her third Olympic Games after competing at PyeongChang 2018 and Beijing 2022.
After bursting onto the scene as a youngster, Robinson continues to perform at the highest level, this year becoming the first Kiwi ski racer to win a World Championships medal with silver in Giant Slalom.
In 2025 Robinson has finished on the podium at every Giant Slalom World Cup race she completed, bringing her career total to 17 World Cup medals, including four golds.
In men’s Freeski, Luca Harrington is selected to the team having represented New Zealand at the Lausanne 2020 Winter Youth Olympic Games where he claimed bronze in Freeski Halfpipe.
He will be looking to capitalise on a standout 2024-25 season where he stood on five World Cup podiums, notching two wins, while also claiming gold and silver on X Games debut.
He won the Freeski Big Air World Championship, marking the first time a Kiwi skier has held this title, he was also the first Kiwi to win a Freeski Crystal Globe.
In 2025, Harrington and fellow NZ Team athlete Ben Barclay shared an historic World Cup Slopestyle podium - the first time two Kiwis have stood on a Park & Pipe podium together.
Barclay, who finished 10th in Freeski Slopestyle at Beijing 2022, New Zealand’s best Olympic result in the discipline, brings further experience to the NZ Team for Milano Cortina having stood on multiple World Cup podiums throughout his career.
Queenstown local, Ruby Star Andrews has been building nicely in recent seasons and starting to deliver on the promise she showed in winning the Snow Sports New Zealand Breakthrough Athlete of the Year in 2023.
Andrews has stood on three career World Cup Slopestyle podiums and was fifth at the 2025 World Championships.
In the Halfpipe, Fin Melville Ives is selected for his first Olympic Winter Games and goes in as the reigning Freeski Halfpipe World Champion.
Melville Ives claimed the World title on his debut at the World Championships this season and can lay claim to a further World Cup gold earlier in 2025.
He was part of the NZ Team’s most successful Winter Youth Olympic Games at Gangwon 2024, where he won the silver medal in Freeski Halfpipe.
Fin’s twin brother Cam Melville Ives also brings Winter Youth Olympic experience to the team, having competed at Gangwon 2024 where he claimed bronze in Snowboard Big Air.
A strong 2025 season saw Cam secure multiple podiums on the European Cup circuit as well as a fifth-place finish in Halfpipe at his debut World Championships in 2025.
At 17-years-old, Luke Harrold completes this selection of athletes to the NZ Team.
In 2023, Harrold was the youngest Kiwi to podium at a World Cup event, before making history at the 2025 World Championships by landing the first ‘triple corked rotation’ in a Freeski Halfpipe competition, where he finished fourth.
Harrold was part of the successful Gangwon 2024 Winter Youth Olympic team, picking up bronze in the Freeski Big Air and gold in the Halfpipe.
New Zealand Olympic Committee CEO, Nicki Nicol, congratulated the athletes on stamping their boarding passes for Milano Cortina 2026.
“Congratulations to the eight athletes selected today, it’s special for the group to share in this milestone moment with whānau and friends and I’m sure it will take a moment to sink in,” said Nicol.
“We’re extremely proud to have each and every one of them wear the fern and represent the New Zealand Team in Italy next year. I also want to wish those athletes still in contention for selection the best of luck in the coming months of competition over in Europe,” said Nicol.
Snow Sports NZ Chief Executive Nic Cavanagh is excited to watch Kiwi snow sports athletes take on the world in Milano Cortina next year.
"This group of eight athletes who have been selected to the New Zealand Team today includes current Olympic and World Champions at the top of their game, as well as some exceptionally talented up-and-coming athletes. For all of them, today’s announcement reflects years of hard work and dedication to their sport, and I am looking forward to watching them all in action in Milano Cortina,” said Cavanagh.
With other New Zealand Team athlete selections expected in late January 2026, Cavanagh explained:
“Milano Cortina 2026 could potentially see the biggest contingent of snow sports athletes to ever represent New Zealand at an Olympic Winter Games, which would be fantastic for both the athletes, their support teams and the wider snow sports community.”
Today's selections are conditional on the NZOC receiving an official FIS (International Ski Federation) quota place for each event at the Games.
The Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games will take place from 6 - 22 February 2026 across iconic Italian alpine venues.
There is expected to be a further athlete selection announcement in January 2026.
NZ Team athletes selected for Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games (in alphabetical order):
Ruby Star Andrews, Women’s Freestyle Skiing Slopestyle and Big Air
Ben Barclay, Men’s Freestyle Skiing Slopestyle and Big Air
Luca Harrington, Men’s Freestyle Skiing Slopestyle and Big Air
Luke Harrold, Men’s Freestyle Skiiing Halfpipe
Cam Melville Ives, Men’s Snowboard Halfpipe
Fin Melville Ives, Men’s Freestyle Skiiing Halfpipe
Alice Robinson, Women’s Alpine Skiing, Giant Slalom and Super G.
Zoi Sadowski-Synnott, Women’s Snowboard Slopestyle and Big Air