Curling and figure skating have already secured places for the Games in Canada.

 

This means that Britain is certain to take a women’s curling team and figure skaters in the ladies singles, pairs and ice dancing events.

 

The last time Britain entered athletes in all figure skating events was at the Lillehammer 1994 Winter Olympics.

 

The minimum qualifying standards are set by the sport’s International Federation (IF) and signed off by the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

 

In certain cases the British Olympic Association (BOA) and an individual sport will raise the minimum standard to set higher Olympic Qualifying Standards.

 

Mike Hay, the BOA's Olympic Performance Manager for winter sports, said: “We set our standards high, which means some sports have Olympic qualifying standards that are much higher than the minimum level set by both their own International Federation and the International Olympic Committee.

 

“Our aim is to have a competitive and credible team based on one overarching principle - we want to have a team of athletes whose minimum target should be to finish in the top half of the field at the Olympic Winter Games.

 

“We have agreed with sports to raise the Olympic qualifying standard to reflect this aspiration.

 

"In setting our standards, we have made some exceptions that may allow an athlete’s participation for vital performance experience, but only if they are of the right age profile and have the ability to be in peak form for the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games.

 

“We have raised the standard for all sports with the exception of skeleton and curling.

 

"Skeleton has a quota system for athletes where the more successful you are as a nation, the more quota spots you trigger - up to a maximum of three athletes for each gender.

 

“Curling has a relatively small number of countries in its Olympic competition.

 

"It has a qualification system that ranks the countries according to their placing at the 2007, 2008 and 2009 World Championships.

 

"In excess of 50 countries compete for the nine spots available, with host nation Canada guaranteed a spot, at the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics.”

 

The seven sports on the Olympic programme for 2010 are biathlon, bobsleigh, curling, ice hockey, luge, skating and skiing.

 

Britain is likely to consist of approximately 50 athletes across six sports - biathlon, bobsleigh, curling, luge, skating and skiing.

 

Andy Hunt (pictured), the BOA's chief executive who will be the team's Chef de Mission in Vancouver, said: “We are expecting to take a team of roughly 50 athletes to Vancouver as opposed to the 311 athletes we took to Beijing.

 

"Team GB will be one of the smaller teams but we have had a great winter season with many podium finishes.

 

"In the women’s bobsleigh we are the current world champions and there have been notable performances in women’s snowboard cross, women’s and men’s curling, women’s and men’s skeleton and the men’s short track speed skating, so there is definitely room for optimism and support from Team GB fans.

 

”Four years ago, we came home from Turin with a silver medal - next year we would like to improve upon that haul.

 

"But our ambition isn’t just about medals, or our place in the medal table; we want each of our athletes to aim for a personal best performance in Vancouver.”