The countdown to the 2022 Winter Olympic Games is in full swing, with the competition running in Beijing from the 4th-20th of February.
Team Ireland’s allocations are to be confirmed in the coming days, in what is to be the country’s 30-year celebration of partaking in the event.
Since that France 1992 outing, thirty-one athletes have represented Ireland across seven Winter Olympics, with this year’s team expected to be the biggest to date.
Two of those hopefuls are Tess Arbez (Alpine Skiing) and Claire Dooley (Freestyle Skier).
Team Ireland’s Tess Arbez on the slopes in PyeongChang giving us a little peak at her incredible speed and agility on the snow! ☘️🇮🇪❄️ pic.twitter.com/D0pVZ0oecZ
— Team Ireland (@TeamIreland) February 4, 2018
Tess Arbez
Meet Tess Arbez, the Alpine Skier who is targeting her second Winter Olympics. As a 20 year old she competed at the Pyeongchang Games in 2018, where she finished in the top 50 in both the slalom and giant slalom events. Fast forward four years and should she compete, the France based skier with Carlow blood is looking to go better.
Tess has not only improved her racing performance over the past few years, she is also currently studying Biomedical Studies in Geneva.
Combining study and training has paid off for her, as she scored her best international result ever at this year’s World Championships (February 2021) with a 38th place finish in the giant slalom.
Read the full profile of Olympic hopeful Tess Arbez HERE.
Claire Dooley
Most ‘holiday’ skiers prefer groomed slopes and get the collywobbles at the sight of the ‘bumps.’
When you enter a slope with bumps or ‘moguls’, turns come thick and fast and you pick up speed swiftly with little room to control it. If your technique is poor there is usually only one way it ends – a bruising wipe out.
So Claire Dooley (18) is well used to people asking; “Moguls? Are you mad?”
Beijing might come a little too soon for the Brisbane native who has roots in Kilkenny, but with our focus on Team Ireland athletes in winter sports, this is a name to note for the future!
Read the full profile of the up and coming freestyle skier HERE.
It might be the case that #Beijing2022 is coming a bit soon for 18 year old Claire Dooley, but the talent and drive of the mogul skier, with Kilkenny roots, makes this #TeamIreland athlete an exciting prospect.
Read all about the up and coming⭐️
🔗https://t.co/NPicMPAxlo pic.twitter.com/jo190bAOz1
— Team Ireland (@TeamIreland) January 7, 2022
Elsa Desmond and Maggie Rose Carrigan are also Winter Olympics 2022 hopefuls, read about them here.