Skier Noel Baxter has been left out of Great Britain’s squad for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. Baxter, 28, brother of ex-skier Alain, competed in the previous two Winter Games, but a dip in form coincided with a cut in his funding this season. Snowboard cross medal hopeful Zoe Gillings is included, along with world women’s bobsleigh champions Nicola Minichiello and Gillian Cooke.

With two weeks to go to the start of the 2010 Winter Olympics and the backdrop of a record snowfall as well as the blessing of international ski officials, the finishing touches are being applied over the next 16 days to the Olympic alpine ski racing courses at Whistler Blackcomb.

Premier Gordon Campell and VANOC head John Furlong took to the skies yesterday for a bird’s-eye reconnaissance tour of Cypress Mountain, where an army of workers is using heavy equipment, wood and straw bales in an all-out battle to save the snow.

Double World Champion Lindsey Vonn (Vail, CO) and two-time Olympic silver medalist Bode Miller (Franconia, NH) join 2006 Olympic gold medalists Ted Ligety (Park City, UT) and Julia Mancuso (Olympic Valley, CA) as the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association (USSA) announced the 2010 Olympic Alpine Ski Team Monday.

With seventeen days to go until the start of the 2010 Olympic Winter Games, the British Olympic Association (BOA) have today (26 January) announced the skiers and snowboarders who will take part in the Vancouver, Canada between 12 – 28 February.

United States skiing sensation Lindsey Vonn expects to wear a new ultra-fast suit at next month’s Winter Olympics. The polyester suit from US firm Spyder could shave hundredths of a second off times — vital in skiing, where such margins could decide Olympic medals.

The Olympic Torch, which started its journey to the Vancouver Winter Olympics in Greece, visiting several Greek ski resorts en route has entered British Columbia. In recent weeks the torch has been carried by British ski jumping hero Eddie The Eagle and visited the venues of the 1998 Calgary Winter Olympics in Alberta, Canada, where Eddie literally leapt to fame 22 years ago.

Eddie the Eagle’ Edwards is set to have a hand in next February’s Winter Olympics — but this time he will remain firmly rooted to the ground. Edwards, a ski jumping plasterer who shot to fame at the 1988 Games in Calgary despite finishing last in both events in which he entered, will carry the Olympic flame in Winnipeg on January 7.