Prince Harry visits venues in Canada preparing for first Invictus Games winter sports events

The Duke of Sussex has visited a number of venues in Canada as the nation gets ready to host the first winter sports events in Invictus Games history.

Joined by other senior members of the Invictus Games Foundation, Prince Harry visited some of the locations where winter sports will be held during the Invictus Games Vancouver Whistler in February 2025.

In a further show of support for winter sports, Prince Harry and his wife, the Duchess of Sussex, also made a surprise visit to a National Hockey League game on Monday night with the Vancouver Canucks, who were playing the San Jose Sharks.

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He performed a ceremonial puck drop ahead of the ice hockey match, following in the footsteps of his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, who made her own puck drop at a game between the Canucks and Sharks as part of her 11-day tour of Canada for her Golden Jubilee in 2002.

The match was played at the Rogers Arena in Vancouver which will host the closing ceremony of the Invictus Games in 2025. 

The world-renowned ski resort of Whistler will be at the centre of the winter sports programme at the Invictus Games in 2025, with events including alpine skiing, Nordic skiing, skeleton and wheelchair curling.

Vancouver, which is more than 100 kilometres south of Whistler, will feature other sports seen at previous Invictus Games such as sitting volleyball, wheelchair basketball and more.

Harry, a former British Army captain, is the patron and founder of the Invictus Games, an international adaptive sport tournament for wounded, injured and sick service personnel and veterans. 

The Invictus Games in Vancouver and Whistler will take place between 8-16 February 2025.

It will be the first time the Invictus Games have returned to a previous host country - Canada previously held the games in Toronto in 2017.

The last games were held in Dusseldorf, Germany, in September.