GREAT BRITAIN will send its most talented squad yet to the Winter Olympics, one that can “make history once again,” chef de mission Mike Hay claimed today.

Team GB will have 59 athletes competing in South Korea, the largest squad the British Olympic Association has sent to a Winter Games.

UK Sport has set a target of at least five medals, which would surpass the previous best haul of four medals achieved in Chamonix in 1924 and in Sochi four years ago.

Short-track speed-skater Elise Christie is a leading medal hope and was among the first group of Team GB athletes leaving Heathrow Airport today for a flight to the Games, which run from February 9 to 25.

Hay believes the squad, which will see Team GB compete in 11 of the 15 disciplines, including five snowboarders in debut event “big air,” now have the ability to deliver podium finishes across the board.

“Not only is this the largest team we have ever taken to a Winter Olympics but I feel it is also the most talented,” said Hay.

“Given results over the last two years at elite level, there is potential for success across a broader range of sports than ever before and I am confident that, with this group of athletes, we can make history once again.”

Lizzy Yarnold led the way in Sochi, winning gold in the women’s skeleton. Jenny Jones won snowboard bronze and the men’s and women’s curling teams claimed silver and bronze respectively.

The Sochi medal tally could yet rise if the men’s bobsleigh team receive a retrospective bronze as a result of ongoing hearings into Russian doping.

The Pyeongchang line-up was completed yesterday following the selection of 25 skiers and snowboarders, which takes the total of men to 34 and women to 25.

Three-time world champion Christie apart, the team have further medal prospects in curling, skiing, snowboarding, skeleton and bobsleigh.

An 11-strong freestyle skiing contingent includes a trio of medal contenders in James Woods, Izzy Atkin and Katie Summerhayes, whose sister Molly will also take part.

Aged 19, Atkin is the youngest member of the British squad set for South Korea, which will see 31 Team GB athletes make a Winter Olympics debut.