NZ Winter Olympics team profiles

Winter Olympic skeleton racer Ben Sandford. Photo / Daily Post

New Zealand athletes competing at Vancouver Winter Olympics from February 12-26:

Ben Koons
Event: Cross country skiing
Age: 23
Came 13th at North America Continental Cup this year -- the best result ever for a New Zealand man.

Katherine Calder
Event: Cross country skiing
Age: 29
Second in 10km event and third in 15km pursuit at Swiss championships, January 2009.

Tionette Stoddard
Event: Skeleton
Age: 35
Finished seventh in 2008 World Cup meet at St Moritz, Switzerland.

Iain Roberts
Event: Skeleton
Age: 30
Placed 20th at the 2009 World Championships, Lake Placid, New York.

Ben Sandford
Event: Skeleton
Age: 30
Placed 10th in 2006 Winter Olympics to be New Zealand's highest finisher at the Games.

Blake Skjellerup
Event: Short track skating
Age: 24
Tenth in 1000m short track speed skating world cup in Beijing 2008.

Shane Dobbin
Event: Speed skating
Age: 30
Four-time in-line skating world champion who switched to the ice two years ago.

Michelle Greig
Event: Freestyle skiing
Age: 21
Finished 14th in Olympic test in Cypress Creek, Canada, last year.

Tim Cafe
Event: Alpine skiing
Age: 22
First represented New Zealand in 2001 and was ranked overall winner in the NZ/Australian Cup in 2008.

Ben Griffin
Event: Alpine skiing
Age: 23
Australia/NZ Cup overall champion in 2009. NZ Super G and GS Champion in 2009.

Sarah Murphy
Event: Biathlon
Age: 21
New Zealand's first biathlete to compete at Winter Olympics. Came 14th in 2008 World Junior Championships.

Juliane Bray
Event: Snowboarding
Age: 30
Finished 16th in halfpipe and 22nd in boarder cross at 2006 Winter Olympics.

Kendall Brown
Event: Snowboarding
Age: 20
Came 25th in halfpipe at 2006 Winter Olympics.

Rebecca Sinclair
Event: Snowboarding
Age: 18
Came first in under-15 halfpipe at 2006 Youth Worlds in Italy.

James Hamilton
Event: Snowboarding
Age: 20
Made US Open final in 2008 and World Championship finals in Korea 2009.

Mitch Brown
Event: Snowboarding
Age: 22
Finshed 32nd at this year's World Cup in Kreischberg, Austria.

- NZPA