- Immigrant Times
- 21 hours ago
- 6 min read
For African athletes in winter sports, willpower is as essential as talent
More African nations than ever are competing at the 2026 Winter Olympics. But nearly all their athletes were born or trained in Europe, revealing the steep barriers that still keep winter sports overwhelmingly white
By The Immigrant Times
Both Issa Laborde (on the left) and Samuel Ikpefan were born and grew up in France but are now representing Kenya and Nigeria at the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics
February 2026: At the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics, African representation reached a new peak. Fifteen athletes from eight African nations have been competing, more than double the six athletes from five nations who competed at Beijing 2022. Benin and Guinea-Bissau are making their Winter Olympics debuts.
Yet this progress reveals as much as it celebrates. Of the 15 African athletes competing at Milano Cortina, the vast majority were born or trained in Europe. Samuel Ikpefan, competing for Nigeria, was born and raised in the French Alps. Issa Laborde, competing for Kenya, grew up in France. Nathan Tchibozo (Benin) was born in France. Mialitiana Clerc (Madagascar) was raised by an adoptive family in France's Haute-Savoie mountains. Lara Markthaler (South Africa) was born in Munich. Winston Tang (Guinea-Bissau) was born in Park City, Utah.
While their stories are remarkable, they also point to a fundamental reality: winter sports infrastructure, training systems, and cultural pathways exist almost exclusively in wealthy, predominantly white nations. For an athlete to reach the Winter Olympics representing an African country, they would need to move to a region with snow, secure coaching, access to equipment, and navigate visa and residency requirements, barriers that compound for families without wealth.
Samuel Ikpefan: Born in France, competing for Nigeria
Samuel Ikpefan was 33 years old when he carried Nigeria's flag at the Milano Cortina opening ceremony. Born in Annemasse in the French Alps to a French mother and Nigerian father from Edo State, Ikpefan progressed through France's elite skiing system as a young athlete. He became French youth sprint champion. But in 2011, the doors to the French national team closed.
"I initially decided to put my career on hold," Ikpefan later explained.
In 2018, he obtained a Nigerian passport and began representing his father's country. It allowed him to relaunch his career and build a stronger connection with Nigerian culture, which had always been present in his life through food, music, and family. But Beijing 2022, his Olympic debut, was compromised by COVID-19. He withdrew from the 15-kilometer classic race and finished 73rd in the sprint free.
Milano Cortina 2026 represents a second chance. Ikpefan is competing in both sprint and distance events, carrying Nigeria's flag as the country's first Winter Olympian and the first Nigerian to compete at two consecutive Winter Games.
After this Olympics, Ikpefan plans to shift his focus to coaching and athlete development. With Nigeria's population of 250 million and a young demographic, he sees potential, particularly among inline skaters, who could transition to roller skiing and eventually compete at the World Summer Roller Ski Championships. "I want to make this sport known," he said.
Ikpefan is one of eight African athletes at Milano Cortina 2026 who received an Olympic Solidarity scholarship, which covers training, equipment, and competition travel costs. Without it, his path would likely have been impossible.
Issa Laborde: Born in France, competing for Kenya
Issa Laborde is 18 years old. Born and raised in L'Alpe d'Huez in the French Alps, where his French father works as a ski patroller, Laborde chose to represent Kenya, his mother Josephine's country, from the beginning. His mother spent years establishing pathways for him to do so.
Unlike Ikpefan, Laborde did not exhaust opportunities elsewhere before turning to Kenya. Representing Kenya was always the plan. He competed at the Gangwon 2024 Winter Youth Olympics in all four alpine skiing events, gaining experience on the international stage. At Milano Cortina, he is competing in the men's giant slalom. He is the second male athlete to represent Kenya at a Winter Olympics, following Philip Boit, who competed in cross-country skiing at Nagano 1998, Salt Lake City 2002, and Turin 2006. Boit became famous for his last-place finish at Nagano, where Norwegian champion Bjørn Dæhlie waited at the finish line to embrace him, a moment that captured both the barriers Boit faced and the respect he earned for persisting.
Laborde has been mentored by Sabrina Simader, who became Kenya's first female Winter Olympian when she competed in alpine skiing at PyeongChang 2018. Born in Kenya and raised in Austria from age three, Simader was initially expected to compete at Milano Cortina. But shortly before the Games began, she announced her withdrawal, citing administrative delays by Kenya's National Olympic Committee and financial constraints. Despite pre-investing her own money, she could not continue. She is now focusing on establishing a "ski camp of colours" for the next generation of African winter sports athletes.
Laborde, like Ikpefan, receives an Olympic Solidarity scholarship. It makes his participation possible.
African winter sports athletes need to overcome high barriers
The presence of 15 African athletes at Milano Cortina 2026 is historic. But their stories reveal why winter sports remain so homogeneous: access, cost, infrastructure, geography, and deeply embedded cultural assumptions about who belongs on snow and ice.
Winter sports require expensive equipment, specialised facilities, and proximity to snow. Training for alpine skiing, cross-country skiing, bobsled, skeleton, luge, or figure skating demands years of investment – not just financial, but infrastructural. Ski resorts, ice rinks, bobsled tracks, and coaching systems exist almost exclusively in wealthy nations, particularly in Europe and North America.
For athletes from African nations, where snow is rare or non-existent and where resources are often directed toward more urgent needs, access is nearly impossible without migration or diaspora connections. The few African athletes who compete at the Winter Olympics almost universally do so because they were born in or moved to Europe or North America at a young age.
Sabrina Simader's withdrawal illustrates the financial precarity even accomplished athletes face. Despite qualifying for Milano Cortina and investing her own funds, she could not overcome administrative delays and funding shortfalls. Her experience is not unique. Many athletes from emerging winter sports nations rely entirely on Olympic Solidarity scholarships. Without them, participation is impossible.
Of the 15 African athletes at Milano Cortina, at least eight received Olympic Solidarity scholarships. The program, which distributed support to 449 athletes from 90 National Olympic Committees for these Games, is essential. But it is not sufficient to address the structural inequities that determine who can access winter sports training from childhood onward.
Geography and climate also shape who can train effectively. An athlete in Nairobi or Lagos cannot simply begin skiing as a child. They would need to move to a region with snow, secure coaching, access to equipment, and navigate visa and residency requirements, barriers that compound for families without wealth.
Cultural assumptions also matter. Winter sports have been historically associated with whiteness, wealth, and European or North American identity. Breaking into these spaces as a Black athlete or an athlete representing an African nation often means confronting scepticism, surprise, and the burden of being a ‘first’. Ikpefan and Laborde carry the weight of representation, not just as athletes, but as pioneers proving that Black athletes and African nations belong in winter sports.
Pierre de Coubertin: “The most important thing is not to win, but to take part”
No African athlete has ever won a Winter Olympics medal. Ikpefan and Laborde are unlikely to finish among the medal contenders at Milano Cortina. But their presence matters beyond results.
Representation shapes who sees themselves as belonging in a sport. When young people in Nigeria, Kenya, or Benin see athletes who look like them or represent their nations competing on the world's biggest winter sports stage, it expands what seems possible.
Ikpefan hopes to build pathways for future Nigerian skiers. Laborde is part of a small but growing cohort of Kenyan winter athletes. Simader, despite her withdrawal, is working to create opportunities for the next generation. These athletes are not just competing – they are building infrastructure, cultural presence, and possibilities where they did not exist before.
But individual effort cannot overcome systemic barriers. Winter sports will remain overwhelmingly white as long as access is determined by geography, wealth, and existing infrastructure concentrated in a handful of wealthy nations. Olympic Solidarity scholarships help, but they are Band-Aids on structural inequities.
The 15 African athletes at Milano Cortina 2026 represent progress. But they also represent how far winter sports will have to go before access is truly universal. Until training systems, facilities, and financial support are more equitably distributed worldwide, winter sports will continue to reflect the inequalities that shape who can participate and who cannot.
Methodology: The research was conducted before the start of the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics and was updated throughout the Games.
Sources: Olympics.com; ESPN Africa; Yahoo Sports; NBC Sports; Olympic Solidarity Programme; George Mason University Institute for Immigration Research
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