A look back at India's firsts and records from the Winter Olympics

India has a very rich history in the Summer Olympic Games, having won 41 medals historically. In contrast, the country has had almost negligible visibility at the Winter Olympic Games.

To give a context, India is yet to secure a single medal at any Winter Olympics and has never achieved a top-10 finish in any sports or discipline.

At the recently concluded Winter Games at Milano-Cortina in Italy, India sent a two-member squad: Arif Khan in Alpine Skiing and Stanzin Lundup in Cross-Country Skiing.

Stanzin Lundup placed 104th in a highly competitive field, while Arif Khan delivered India’s strongest-ever performance in Alpine Skiing at the Winter Games, finishing 39th.

This was his first top-40 result in a major championships and the best finish by an Indian in the sport’s Olympic history, but it brought an end to India's campaign medalless.

Here are some of those historical records and firsts for India at the Winter Olympics:

First Appearance - Jeremy Bujakowski

India made its debut at the ninth edition of the Winter Olympics in the 1964 Innsbruck Games in Austria when Jeremy Bujakowski qualified in the downhill event of Alpine Skiing.

Jeremy was a Polish citizen and attained Indian citizenship in the 1940s after his parents settled in India, and hence qualified for the winter Olympics as an Indian athlete in two Olympics.

He had a forgettable outing on his debut, failing to finish his run, resulting in a DNF. But, he registered his first timings at the next Olympics in 1968 in both Downhill and Giant Slalom.

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First Female Appearance - Shailaja Kumar

After Jeremy's two consecutive appearances, India waited for 20 more years to again field a team at the winter Olympics in Calgary, Canada, in 1988.

This time India had a three-member team – all in Alpine Skiing – which also included India's first female representative at the Winter Olympics, Shailaja Kumar.

Shailaja had a commendable start to her Olympic career, finishing 28th in the women's slalom event - which is still the best for any Indian athlete in Alpine Skiing.

Biggest contingent - 4 Athletes

India's biggest contingent at the Winter Olympics was of 4 athletes (3 male, 1 Female) across three different sports at the 2006 Turin Olympics in Italy.

Neha Ahuja and Hira Lal in Alpine Skiing, Bahadur Gupta in Cross-Country Skiing and the veteran Shiva Keshvan were the four Indian athletes in Turin.

India made no further progress after that and has still not managed to qualify four or more athletes since then. Instead, the numbers have declined, dropping to just 1 athlete in 2022 and only 2 in 2026.

Best Finish - 25th Shiva Keshavan

India's most successful athlete at the Winter Olympics was Shiva Keshavan, who played a sport that is not very famous in his country but led him to represent his country at six Olympic Games.

At the age of just 16, Shiva was the youngest Luger to ever qualify for the Olympics in the 1998 Nagano Olympics - finishing at a respectable 28th position.

He then continued his legacy for the six consecutive editions, which included a 25th-place finish at the 2006 Olympic Games in the men's singles category of Luge.

This is still the best ever finish an Indian athlete has ever recorded at the winter Games, showcasing the gap between India and the other countries in winter sports.