Abstract: 431 Chinese elite winter sports athletes from 15 disciplines on the national teams of 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic Games were studied via questionnaires and on-site interviews in terms of their characteristics in socioeconomic status (SES), parents' sports background and their support levels. It was found that the scores of the athletes' SES ranged from −2.09 to 2.66. The ice sports athletes reported significantly higher scores in SES (0.40) than the snow sports athletes (−0.16) (P<0.01). Significant differences were observed in SES across the disciplines (F=5.56, P<0.01, η²p=0.158). 9.98% athletes' parents had once been winter sports athletes or the athletes of other sports, and 6.96% athletes' parents worked in sport-related fields. The ice sports athletes' parents had stronger sports background than those of snow sports athletes. The athletes' parents had a relatively high score in family support degrees (16.20), with the parents of ice sports athletes (18.17) reporting higher scores than snow sport athletes (15.44). The results indicated that family and socioeconomic factors showed the overall characteristics of "higher in ice sport than snow sport" and great discrepancies across the disciplines. Therefore, SES and related family social factors should be taken into full consideration when selecting and training the winter sports reserve talents in China.