What another great few days for the British Bobsleigh teams around the Globe. John Jackson and John Baines in GB 1 produced a heroic first run in the World Cup in Park City, America to lie third after the first run before having to settle for a very respectable 9th, just 0.28 off the piodium. The last time the British two man bob was in the top ten was in Alternberg in 2006! The next day the four man bob then placed 6th, their best 4-man WC result since they came 4th at Koenigssee in Feb 2007 according to Infostrada.
Such is the expectation this season, Paula Walker, the leading female driver, tweeted that she would have "grabbed with both hands a ninth place finish last season and smiled. This just shows how far GB Bobsleigh has come," she explained. Walker earlier acknowledged that mistakes had been made by herself and yet the push by her brakewoman, Gillian Cooke, had been "awesome."
And the awesome results did not just stop with the World Cup teams: With crews racing in the America's Cup races and the Europa Cup races, competition for the places going to Sochi is getting hotter and hotter. Team Dean, competing in the four man the crew finished 5th in the Europa Cup at Igls, Austria. driven by Lamin Deen, the team put their great performance also down to some 'great starts.' the team were just 0.55 off the win! This is in reference to the hard work that all the athletes put in during the summer in the gym, on the track and also on the practice start that the team have at the University of Bath.
Will Golder and his crew placed 16th also in the four man at Igls. In the woman's two man, Victoria Olaoye and Sarah Adams placed 5th in the second race.
The best result of the weekend however maybe comes from the next generation of racers on the America's Cup: Mica MacNeill and Francis Slater backed up their third last time out with a win! For a crew that has not been together that long, just over a year, this shows that the path that has been set out by their Performance Director, Gary Anderson is working along the right paths as they look to Sochi AND BEYOND!
The future is bright, the future is bobsleigh!