Ricardo Brancal and Vanina de Oliveira, will be competing in alpine skiing, and José Cabeça in cross-country skiing, during the Olympic Games.

The head of mission of the Portuguese delegation to the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, Pedro Farromba, said that the expectation this games is not to win medals but to improve the results of the last editions.

“Improving in relation to the results that we had in the last editions will be a good result”, said the president of the Portuguese Winter Sports Federation, adding that “just being able to reach the games is already a great achievement for the athletes”.

Ricardo Brancal, a 25-year-old from Covilha, leaves with the ambition to “equal or surpass Arthur Hanse, who obtained a 'top-40' in slalom [36th place among 109 participants, in Pyeongchang2018]”, although he said that staying in the 'top-50', taking into account the competitive level of several teams, would be “already a great victory”.

Vanina Oliveira, 19 years old, a resident in France and the daughter of a mother born in Atães, Guimarães, also has the greatest hope in the slalom.

“I hope to represent Portugal well, but also to have fun and enjoy the moment. Slalom is my favourite discipline”, said the athlete.

José Cabeça, from Évora, is a triathlon athlete and started skiing just two years ago, with the aim of competing at the Olympic Games, where he will take part in the 15 km classic style, and has not lost hope of being the first Portuguese to also participate in the Summer Olympics.