China has confirmed a 126-athlete squad for the Milan-Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics, according to multiple media outlets, with defending Olympic champions Gu Ailing and Su Yiming set to spearhead the nation’s medal push.
The athletes form part of a 286-member delegation, which also includes coaches, officials and support staff, making it China’s largest Winter Olympic team ever to compete overseas.
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With an average age of around 25, the roster blends experience with youth. Among the 126 athletes, 59 are Olympic veterans, while 67 will make their Games debut. The squad features nine gold medallists from Beijing 2022, as China looks to build on its most successful Winter Olympics to date.
China will compete across seven major sports, 15 sub-disciplines and more than 90 events, marking its broadest participation at a Winter Games held outside the country. The delegation includes 68 women and 58 men, as well as 16 athletes from ethnic minority backgrounds, according to official figures.
Several of China’s most decorated winter sports figures headline the team. Alongside Gu and Su, the squad includes short-track speed skating star Fan Kexin, freestyle skiing veteran Xu Mengtao, speed skating Olympic champion Gao Tingyu, and figure skating pair Sui Wenjing and Han Cong.
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Experience spans multiple Olympic cycles, with some athletes – including curler Xu Xiaoming and snowboarder Liu Jiayu – having competed at Vancouver 2010, Sochi 2014, Pyeongchang 2018 and Beijing 2022. At the other end of the spectrum, 17-year-old snowboarder Ren Zhongshuo is the youngest member of the delegation.
China has also confirmed its participation in ski mountaineering, a sport making its Olympic debut at Milan-Cortina, expanding the country’s presence across winter disciplines.
The Milan-Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics will run from 6 to 22 February, featuring 116 events across 16 disciplines. China enters the Games aiming to replicate and potentially surpass its Beijing 2022 performance, where it won 15 medals, including nine golds, finishing fourth in the gold medal table.
