Sir Bradley Wiggins switches to winter sports as he joins Channel 4's The Jump

Sir Bradley Wiggins, Great Britain's most decorated Olympian ever, is switching from summer to winter sports after he was confirmed to be among the contestants in the new series of the Channel 4 show, The Jump.

The 36-year-old, who announced his retirement from professional cycling last week, will join 13 other contestants from the world of sport and entertainment for the fourth series of the show, which attracted controversy last year after competitors including former Olympic champion swimmer Rebecca Adlington, gymnast Beth Tweddle and the actress Tina Hobley were injured while filming.

Joining the five-time Olympic champion and 2012 Tour de France winner in the new series will be para-cyclist Kadeena Cox. At the Rio Paralympic Games this summer, she won gold medals in both cycling and athletics, aking the T38 400m on the athletics track and gold in the C4-5 para-cycling time trial.

Other stars featuring include the model Caprice Bourret, former Liverpool and England footballer Robbie Fowler, Olympic taekwondo champion Jade Jones and former England rugby union captain, Jason Robinson.

During the series, they will tackle events including skeleton, bobsleigh, ski cross, giant slalom and, of course, ski jumping.

Wiggins said that skiing is "a big passion" of his. "It was a mix of that and the other committed names this year that made me want to sign up.

"Major retiring Olympians such as Sir Steve Redgrave have also trod this path.

"I see this as a sporting challenge and want to go out there and win it.

"Just don't call me a celebrity," he added.

In September, however, Wiggins had suggested that taking part in reality TV shows were the last thing he had planned for his retirement.

In an interview with the Guardian, he said: "I don’t know how I want to be remembered on the bike.

"But I don’t want people to look back in 10 years and say, ‘Do you remember that famous cyclist with the sideburns? Whatever happened to him?’

"And it’s like, ‘He was on the telly for ages, weren’t he? On all those game shows. And then he sort of disappeared.’ And then you read about me in the Mirror, walking through the park or something, you know, down and out."

He added: "So I think about it a lot. Where do I want to be in 20 years’ time?"

There's no confirmation as yet about when the  series will air.

The full list of celebrities taking part is:

Caprice Bourret - model and entrepreneur
Lydia Bright - The Only Way Is Essex star
Kadeena Cox - Paralympic cycling and athletics medallist
Mark Dolan - comedian
Robbie Fowler - former Liverpool and England footballer
Josie Gibson - Big Brother 2010 winner
Jade Jones - Olympic taekwondo champion
Spencer Matthews - former Made In Chelsea star
Emma Parker-Bowles - TV presenter
Jason Robinson - former England rugby captain
Louis Smith - Olympic gymnast
Gareth Thomas - ex-Welsh rugby international player
Bradley Wiggins - retired Olympic cyclist
Vogue Williams - model, presenter and radio DJ