Inexperienced British Skeleton athletes to gain valuable time on World Cup stage as 2020-21 season moves to Igls
Aspiring Winter Olympians training at the University of Bath will gain valuable elite international experience when a new-look British Skeleton squad heads to Igls, Austria for rounds three and four of the 2020-21 IBSF World Cup.
Only 2018 Olympian Jerry Rice has more than three World Cup races under his belt, with Benji Fulker, Matt Weston, Brogan Crowley and Amelia Coltman all set to feature this Friday before Jacob Salisbury replaces Fulker in the line up a week later.
Sports Performance graduate Madelaine Smith will join Crowley and Coltman in the women’s races as she targets qualification for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games.
Fulker and Salisbury are yet to make their World Cup debuts, while Coltman (pictured) only made hers in the first week of the season and Crowley took her top-tier bow in the final race of the last campaign.
Weston finished fifth in Race 1 of this year’s World Cup on November 20 but that was only his second-ever start at this level.
British Skeleton Performance Director Natalie Dunman said: “Because ranking points have been suspended for a season as a result of Covid-19, we’ve got a unique opportunity to race different athletes at different venues at different stages of the calendar.
“That ability to move people across the circuits means that the athletes who are focussed on the next Olympics can do what they need to do to be in the best possible position come Beijing and it allows us to speed up the development of the rest of the squad.”
Fulker, Rice and Weston take to the ice at 9.15am GMT on Friday, with the women’s race following at 1.15pm.
The British Bobsleigh & Skeleton Association is based at the University of Bath, with facilities at the Sports Training Village including the UK’s only outdoor push-start track. Click here to find out more.
