Kenya's Curlers hope to compete at Milan Cortina 2026 after becoming only the second African country to join the World Curling Federation ©Getty Images

Kenya has formed a national curling team in the hope of earning a spot at the 2026 Winter Olympic Games in Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo.

The country only officially registered with the World Curling Federation (WCF) last year.

Nigeria is the only other African member of the WCF. 

"This is going to motivate more African members," WCF President Kate Caithness predicted. 

Kenya Curling Federation 2021 President Laventer Oguta meanwhile is already aiming for a place at the next Winter Olympics. 

"It's a long shot but being only the second African country to play curling may give us a chance of qualifying to the 2026 Winter Olympics," Oguta insisted, in comments reported by the state-run China Daily.

"But all this will depend on our preparations and support from the Government."

Kenyan curlers have been forced to move practice to gymnasium floors after the pandemic closed their only ice rink ©Getty Images
Kenyan curlers have been forced to move practice to gymnasium floors after the pandemic closed their only ice rink ©Getty Images

Kenya's fledgling curlers have used a gymnasium floor to practice sweeping stones as the only ice rink in the country was closed down because of the coronavirus pandemic.

"The challenge to bring a winter sport to Kenya inspires me," said Oguta, a rugby player before injury forced her to miss Rio 2016.

"It opens a totally new horizon for us since we don't experience winter."

The team have already beaten Denmark 7-5 in a friendly.

"Kenya is naturally a gifted sporting nation," team member Haggai Odhiambo Zuma insisted, according to China Daily.

A football goalkeeper in Kenya, he had tried rugby and kabbadi before settling on curling.

It had been necessary for the team to establish a GoFundMe page on the internet to raise funds for a training trip to the United States, and officials and team members are hopeful for Government support in the future. 

Cross-country skier Philip Boit became the first Kenyan to take part in the Winter Olympics when he competed in three Games from 1998 to 2006 © Getty Images
Cross-country skier Philip Boit became the first Kenyan to take part in the Winter Olympics when he competed in three Games from 1998 to 2006 © Getty Images

Kenya’s first Winter Olympian was cross-country skier Philip Boit, a former runner who competed at Nagano in 1998 and went on to become a three-time Winter Olympian.

Sabrina Simader, an Alpine skier who competed in the super-G and giant slalom at Pyeongchang in 2018, was the first Kenyan woman to compete in the Winter Games.

An increasing number of athletes from non-traditional winter countries have sent athletes to the Winter Olympics since the Jamaican bobsleigh team blazed the trail at Calgary 1988.

"It doesn’t matter the country, diversity is a beautiful thing," team member Dudley Stokes said this week.