Decision day for Adele Nicoll's Winter Olympic dream
Welshpool's Adele Nicoll is set to learn today if she will be heading for the Winter Olympics in Beijing next month – after achieving the bobsleigh qualifying standard alongside partner Mica NcNeill in St Moritz.
The pair picked up a silver medal earlier this year – and on Sunday earned their second best of the World Cup season, 11th, while meeting the qualifying standard.
And today is set to be the day she discovers if Team GB will take her and McNeill in the qualification position.
It marks a remarkable rise for the 25-year-old from Welshpool – who has also scooped eight Welsh senior shot putt titles – but after lockdown she received a message on Instagram that would open up a new sport.
McNeill had seen videos of Nicoll training and thought she had the attributes to be a good brakewoman. She then got in touch with the Commonwealth Games hopeful, and she has never looked back.
Nicoll said: "She asked if I had ever considered giving bobsleigh a go?'
"I said, 'no, but tell me more'.
"She said, 'you need to be super strong, super powerful and fast'. I said, 'well, I'm powerful and strong and I can work on the speed'.
"I had a background of doing lots of different sports as a kid so I knew I'd be able to do it but it was going to be a challenge.
"I trialled for her team four weeks after the message and it just took off
"I came into the sport 12 months ago at something like 96kg. I've dropped down to 77kg to be able to race with Mica , as there's a race weight.
"So the initial challenge was losing all that weight. Then we got into the specifics of becoming a bobsleigh athlete.
"I'm absolutely loving it."
