South Africa are set to be the best-represented African country at the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympics (Feb. 6-22), with five athletes expected to participate among a total 15 from the continent.
Team South Africa's teenage alpine skiing duo Lara Markthaler and Thomas Weir will be joined by Malica Malherbe (freestyle skiing), Matthew Smith (cross-country skiing) and Nicole Burger (skeleton).
Kenya, Madagascar, and Morocco are set to have two representatives. All other African countries competing are expected to have one competitor at the tournament.
Markthaler, Weir, Isa Laborde and Sabrina Simader are likely to be joined by four other African alpine skiers: Madagascar's Mialitiana Clerc, Benin's Nathan Tchibozo, Eritrea's Shannon-Ogbnai Abeda and Guinea-Bissau's Winston Tang.
If all goes as planned, Benin and Guinea-Bissau will be first-time Winter Olympics participants. Meanwhile, Madagascar's Clerc is set to be the first female African athlete in any sport to compete in three Winter Olympics.
Elsewhere, Morocco's Abderrahim Kemmissa and Nigeria's Samuel Ikpefan will be competing in cross-country skiing.
After Nigeria made its Winter Olympic debut in 2018 by becoming the first African nation to field a bobsleigh team, Ikpefan will this year become the country's first ever Winter Olympic skier.
Full list of expected African participants
South Africa
Lara Markthaler (alpine skiing)
Thomas Weir (alpine skiing)
Malica Malherbe (freestyle skiing)
Matthew Smith (cross-country skiing)
Nicole Burger (skeleton)
Kenya
Issa Laborde (alpine skiing)
Sabrina Simader (alpine skiing)
Madagascar
Mialitiana Clerc (alpine skiing)
Mathieu Gravier (alpine skiing)
Benin
Nathan Tchibozo (alpine skiing)
Eritrea
Shannon-Ogbnai Abeda (alpine skiing)
Guinea-Bissau
Winston Tang (alpine skiing)
Morocco
Abderrahim Kemmissa (cross-country skiing)
Pietro Tranchina (alpine skiing)
Nigeria
Samuel Ikpefan (cross-country skiing)
Africa's history at the Winter Olympics
South Africa became the first African country to appear at the Winter Olympics when they sent four figure skaters to Squaw Valley 1960.
South Africa subsequently did not return to the Winter Olympics for 34 years due to its isolation from the global sporting community due to apartheid. However, Africa continued to make strides in the winter sporting world.
Morocco sent alpine skiers Said Housni, Hassan Lahmaoui, Mimoun Ouitot and Mohamed Aomar to Grenoble 1968.
In 1984, Senegalese alpine skier Lamine Gueye became the first black African to participate at the Winter Olympics.
PyeongChang 2018 was a major breakthrough for the continent as eight African countries were represented for the first time. Milano Cortina 2026 will be the second.
No African medal has ever won a medal at the Winter Olympics. However, Canada-born Moroccan alpine skier Adam Lamhamedi made history when he won gold at the 2012 Winter Youth Olympics in Innsbruck.
None of the African participants at this year's Winter Olympics are expected to finish among the medals, but athletes from the continent continue to chip away at all perceptions of what many thought possible for a continent with very little snow.