Meet the Team Ireland athletes competing at the 2026 Winter Olympics

The quartet was announced on Thursday afternoon ahead of the Milan-Cortina Games that get underway with the opening ceremony on February 6th

Thu, 29 Jan, 2026 - 16:00

Brendan O'Brien

Ireland is to be represented by a four-strong team at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan-Cortina that will get underway with thane opening ceremony across multiple venues on Friday week, February 6.

It will be the smallest Irish contingent at a Winter Games since Turin 20 years ago which, incidentally, was the last time this event was held in western Europe. Games in the interim have featured either five- or six-strong Irish teams.

And it brings to 36 the number of people who have represented this country at the Winter Games since 1992.

The first challenge for the athletes and small support staff in northern Italy will be the logistics.

This is to be the most geographically widespread Games in Olympic history with 25 venues spread out across four ‘clusters’ – and a total of 22,000 square kilometres - in the mostly hilly terrain of northern Italy.

Team Ireland athletes Ben Lynch, Cormac Comerford, Anabelle Zurbay and Thomas Maloney Westgaard. Pic: David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile

As luck would have it, all four of the Irish athletes are in separate clusters.

The four, who are competing in Alpine Skiing, Freestyle Skiing and Cross Country Skiing, gathered in the team's main hub in Bolzano this week for final preparations and official team activity ahead of the announcement.

They will now return to their training programmes in advance of their competitions.

TEAM IRELAND ATHLETES

Anabelle Zurbay:

Aged 17, Zubray will compete in Alpine skiing and focusing on the technical events of Slalom and Giant Slalom. The Colorado-based athlete is not only the youngest member of the team, she is also the youngest Irish athlete to ever compete in Alpine Skiing at the Olympics.

Zurbay’s family, via her maternal grandmother Rosaline, comes from Rosemount, outside Moate in Co. Westmeath. Zurbay, also known as Annie, will be competing in the Cortina cluster to the northeast.

Ben Lynch:

The Dublin-born skier moved to Vancouver with his family when he was three and will compete in the Freestyle Skiing Halfpipe event.

Despite his family mostly becoming successful rowers, Lynch enjoyed the freedom of skiing, and specifically the expressive element of freestyle disciplines. He is a first-time Olympian and will be based in Livigno for the duration of the Games.

Cormac Comerford:

Born and bred in Glenageary, Comerford will compete in Alpine Skiing, with the Slalom being his favourite of the disciplines in which he will run. The Dublin skier first learnt his love for skiing at the Kilternan dry slopes, and is also competing in his first Olympic Games.

Now 29, he has been working as a mechanical engineer in the off-season. Comerford spends most of the winter travelling Europe, training and competing. Based in Austria with the private Untitled team, he will be competing in the Bormio cluster.

Thomas Maloney Westgård:

The veteran of the team, Westgård is set to compete in his third Olympic Games, when he will become only the second Irish athlete to ever compete in three winter games after the snowboarder Seamus O’Connor.

He competes in the Cross Country events, with the 50km race his favourite discipline. Thomas was born on the island of Leka in Norway to a Galway mother and Norwegian father, and after a hugely successful few seasons, competes for pro team Team Aker Dæhlie.

Thomas will be competing in Predazzo, in the Val di Fiemme cluster.

Team Ireland Schedule:

6 Feb Opening Ceremony – Milano (Irish in the Livigno, Cortina and Predazzo clusters)

7 Feb Cormac Comerford – Downhill (Alpine Skiing), Bormio

8 Feb Thomas Maloney Westgård – 10km + 10km Skiathlon (Cross Country), Predazzo

11 Feb Cormac Comerford – Super-G (Alpine Skiing), Bormio

13 Feb Thomas Maloney Westgård – 10km Free (Cross Country), Predazzo

14 Feb Cormac Comerford – Giant Slalom Run 1 & 2 (Alpine Skiing), Bormio

15 Feb Anabelle Zurbay – Giant Slalom Run 1 & 2 (Alpine Skiing), Cortina

16 Feb Cormac Comerford – Slalom Run 1 & 2 (Alpine Skiing), Bormio

18 Feb Anabelle Zurbay – Slalom Run 1 & 2 (Alpine Skiing), Cortina

19 Feb Ben Lynch – Halfpipe Qualification (Freestyle Skiing), Livigno