The money will add to £11.3 million ($17.9 million/€13.5 million) already being invested through National Lottery and Government funding in British winter Olympic and Paralympic sports.

The latest UK Sport investment will run until this September, at which point they will consider the development and progress of the sport.

The new slopestyle disciplines of ski and snowboard are the main focuses of the funding.

UK Sport had been unable to invest in snow sport after the collapse of Snowsport GB prior to the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, where Britain won just one medal, a skeleton gold for Amy Williams.

British Ski & Snowboard chief executive David Edwards said: "We are delighted that UK Sport shares our view of the potential for our athletes to win medals in Sochi and future Olympic events, and we are very grateful for the support announced today.

"When Snowsport GB went into administration in January 2010 Lord Moynihan took on the chairmanship of British Ski and Snowboard, the replacement governing body for snow sports.

"Since then we have raised substantial funding for our athletes, put a new robust governance structure in place and worked closely with UK Sport on plans for the future.

"With the help of the BOA (British Olympic Association) we have achieved a tremendous amount for Snowsport in Great Britain in the last two years.

"With this game changing award from UK Sport the bar is now set higher.

"We look forward to the next two years with huge enthusiasm."

Liz Nicholl, chief executive of UK Sport, added: "We are pleased to welcome British Ski and Snowboard to the winter sports world class performance programme.

"It is testament to the recent progress they have made as a sport after a difficult period.

"We have, as ever, applied our investment principles rigorously and the sport has made a credible business case for a performance programme that could deliver medallists at the Winter Olympics in Sochi 2014.

"They have made significant strides on a performance potential basis and this initial investment is recognition of the work that has been done so far."

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