Gus Kenworthy joins Great Britain from USA after International Ski Federation ratifies change of nationality

Read the first interview with Gus Kenworthy in Wednesday’s Evening Standard

Former Winter Olympic silver medallist Gus Kenworthy has switched allegiance to Great Britain from the United States, whom he represented at the last two Games.

The 28-year-old, who was born in Chelmsford and has a British mother, approached GB Snowsport over a year ago about making the change of nationality which has now officially been ratified by the International Ski Federation (FIS).

The skier, who boasts a UK passport, won silver in slopestyle at the 2014 Sochi Games but finished outside the medals in PyeongChang four years later in the same event.

Away from the sport Kenworthy, who has set his sights on halfpipe gold for Britain at the next Olympics in Beijing in 2022 as well as focusing on the slopestyle and Big Air, gained global attention for coming out as gay in 2015 as well as his high-profile rescue of stray dogs at the Sochi Games.

Following his switch to Britain, he said: “This is a great opportunity for me to start again and compete in three events in 2022. I have strong roots in the UK and have been close with many of the athletes, for me, this is an incredible opportunity to join a first-class team and I believe we will be able to deliver great results.

“I am also doing this for my mother, who was born and lived in the UK for much of her life. She has always been my greatest supporter throughout my career. She taught me to ski when I was three years old and is the reason I compete today. It’s great to now be representing GB, a country which means so much to me and my family.”

Kenworthy’s agent originally approach GB Snowsport CEO Vicky Gosling and the athlete becomes the latest high-profile Winter Olympians to switch to GB colours from another country after snowboarder Charlotte Bankes changed from France to Britain a year ago.

Following Kenworthy’s move, Gosling said: “When a world-renowned athlete like Gus makes himself available to compete for GB Snowsport, it is really exciting but we wanted assurances around Guys’ desire as his life outside snowsport has become much busier.

“We have met with Gus numerous times and found that we are completely on the same page. Gus understands that we have an incredibly talented squad and that means places are competitive.

“It is incredibly exciting to have him in our ranks and I think it goes to show the level that GB Snowsport has reached in a short space now. The inclusion of Gus in our squad can only raise our level of performance and make us eve more competitive.”

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in