HPSNZ confirms investment for Winter Olympic and Paralympic cycle
The recently announced investment is an overall increase of $2.26 million from the successful 2026 Milano Cortina cycle.
HPSNZ Director of High Performance Steve Tew, says the investment will give SSNZ the certainty it needs to plan and deliver the next four-year cycle.
“This investment will directly support priority campaigns and programmes, including athlete and coach development, and the wider high performance pathway needed to build toward success in 2030 and beyond.
“This was a robust process, with careful consideration given to past performances and future potential.
“The investment reflects the quality and strength of Snow Sports New Zealand’s high performance programme and the people who drive it.
“We congratulate Snow Sports NZ on their achievements to date, the programmes they have built and the potential performance we strive to support them achieve,” Steve says.
Over the past three cycles, New Zealand has won sixteen medals – eight at the Winter Olympics and eight at the Winter Paralympics, helping establish snow sports as one of New Zealand’s most successful sports.
Along with the three medals won at this year’s Milano Cortina Winter Olympics, a record eleven athletes finished in the top eight of their events, eight more than in Beijing four years ago.
“Snow Sports New Zealand has delivered sustained success over multiple cycles and now sits alongside sports like rowing and cycling – thanks to the consistent medal performances of its athletes,” Steve says.
“This investment also recognises the travel demands of winter sport, where athletes need to be overseas to train, compete and qualify for pinnacle events.”
Snow Sports NZ Chief Executive Nic Cavanagh said funding confirmation provided welcome certainty allowing the sport to maintain the momentum built across the past decade and beyond.
“We are grateful to HPSNZ for the ongoing partnership. Our goal has been to prove New Zealand is capable of repeatable success on international slopes while offering our world class athletes every chance of realising their potential.
“In the last four years we have seen unprecedented development within the team. New Zealand is producing world-class athletes across snowboard, freeski, freeride, adaptive and alpine. Their successes help showcase New Zealand not just as a sporting nation, but as a snow sports destination, and we are extremely proud of all the snow sports athletes competing across the globe,” Nic says.
Eligible athletes will also benefit from HPSNZ financial support through the Tailored Athlete Pathway Support (TAPS) programme, and performance support which delivers health and wellbeing focussed services to athletes, including performance nutrition, medical support, physiotherapy, performance science and performance life.
The new investment cycle began on 1 July 2026 and runs through to 30 June 2030.