A Team Canada first: More women than men among 207 athletes at Winter Games

A Team Canada first: More women than men among 207 athletes at Winter Games

Published 12:26 pm Thursday, January 29, 2026

Thirty-three athletes from B.C. are among 207 on Team Canada at the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games starting Friday, Feb. 6.

The Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) announced its final list of athletes Thursday (Jan. 29) including 109 Olympic rookies and 47 medallists.

For two-plus weeks in Italy, close to 2,900 athletes from around the world will compete in 116 events on ice and snow, in eight sports and 16 disciplines.

This is the first Olympic Winter Games at which Team Canada athletes competing in women’s events (108) outnumber those in men’s (99).

Youngest among them is male snowboarder Eli Bouchard, 18. Oldest is curler Marc Kennedy, 44.

Team Canada boasts four sets of siblings including Jasmine Drolet and Remi Drolet (both cross-country skiing), Daniel Hall and Laura Hall (long track speed skating), Hannah Schmidt and Jared Schmidt (ski cross) and Brodie Seger and Riley Seger (alpine skiing).

Eight children of former Olympics are set to compete. Among them are alpine skier Jeffrey Read, son of Ken Read, and four long track speed skaters (Cédrick Brunet, Laurent Dubreuil, Béatrice Lamarche and Laura Hall).

By province, Ontario is home to the most Team Canada athletes (59), followed by Quebec (49), Alberta (46) and B.C. (33). Two are born outside the country (figure skater Deanna Stellato-Dudek, from Chicago, and NHLer Thomas Harley, from Syracuse, NY).

Kelsey Mitchell is set to become Canada’s latest dual-season Olympian (bobsleigh, track cycling).

Athletes with the most Olympic appearances at Winter Games are Mackenzie Boyd-Clowes, Valérie Maltais and Marie-Philip Poulin — four each, a fifth in Italy.

Ninety of Team Canada’s 2026 athletes competed at the Beijing Games in 2022, 43 at PyeongChang 2018, 13 at Sochi 2014 and eight at Vancouver 2010.

In addition to athletes, Canada will send 231 National Sport Organization (NSO) support staff and coaches and 181 Canadian Olympic Committee Mission Team members including 16 Canadian Olympians and three Pan American Games athletes.

Team Canada athletes are profiled on olympic.ca and listed on a spreadsheet.

“At the Olympic Games, the world doesn’t just see what athletes can do, it sees what a country is made of,” said Jennifer Heil, Olympic champ and Team Canada’s Chef de Mission for the Games.

“This Canadian team brings heart and pride, grounded in respect. Behind every start line is a story: years of sacrifice, relentless work, and the resilience to keep going when it would’ve been easier to stop, all in pursuit of an Olympic dream. Now it’s Canada’s turn. Let’s rally around this incredible group and cheer loud and proud as they step onto the world stage at Milano Cortina 2026.”

The 2026 Winter Games run from Feb. 6 to 22.