Africa will mark a significant milestone at the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026, with a record 15 athletes from eight nations set to compete, undersoring the continent's growing footprint in winter sports despite limited access to snow and ice at home. The Milan-Cortina edition represents Africa's strongest showing yet, improving on Beijing 2022, where just six athletes from five countries took part, and matching the upward trajectory first seen at PyeongChang 2018.
African athletes will compete across four disciplines in Italy: alpine skiing, cross-country skiing, freestyle skiing and skeletonm reflecting both expanding opportunity and increasing diversity in winter sport pathways.
South Africa headlines the African contingent with five athletes, the largest delegation in its Winter Olympic history, surpassing the four competitors it sent to the 1960 Squaw Valley Games.
Benin and Guinea-Bissau will make their Winter Olympics debut, represented by alpine skiers Nathan Tchibozo and Winston Tang respectively, adding new flags to the African presence on the Olympic snow.
Madagascar, Morocco and Kenya will each field two athletes, while Nigeria and Eritrea will be represented by one athlete apiece, completing the eight-nation African lineup.
Madagascar’s Mialitiana Clerc is poised to make history as the first African woman to compete at three Olympic Winter Games, having previously featured at PyeongChang 2018 and Beijing 2022, where she recorded a best finish of 41st in the giant slalom.
Nigeria’s Samuel Ikpefan returns as the country’s sole representative, competing in cross-country skiing after serving as flagbearer at Beijing 2022, where illness disrupted his campaign.
Morocco will be represented by alpine skier Pietro Tranchina and cross-country skier Abderrahim Kemmissa, while Eritrea’s Shannon-Ogbnai Abeda prepares for what he has indicated will be his final Olympic appearance.
South Africa’s five debutants span alpine skiing, cross-country skiing, freestyle skiing and skeleton, highlighting the breadth of its investment in winter disciplines.
Kenya’s participation continues a growing tradition through Issa Laborde and veteran Sabrina Simader, the pioneer of Kenyan winter sport who appears set to compete despite previously announcing her retirement.
Overall, 10 African athletes will race in alpine skiing, three in cross-country skiing, and one each in freestyle skiing and skeleton, a distribution that reflects both accessibility and emerging expertise.
Several African competitors, including Ikpefan, Clerc and Abeda, have benefited from Olympic Solidarity scholarships, reinforcing the International Olympic Committee’s mission to ensure universality and equal opportunity at the Winter Games.
