Great Britain Bobsleigh's Youth Olympic hopefuls got their season off to a stunning start as they dominated the medal table in Calgary. GB won eight medals in the opening two races of a seven-race season that will determine who qualifies for the second Youth Olympics in Lillehammer in February 2016. Kelsea Purchall and Annabel Chaffey claimed a gold medal apiece in Canada, with Purchall winning Race 1 on Wednesday night and Chaffey repeating the feat...
Britain’s biggest-ever bobsleigh squad was announced at the University of Bath this week. The skeleton team for the new season was also confirmed, with the two winter sports coming together this year under one organisation – the British Bobsleigh & Skeleton Association. Both sets of athletes are based at the £30million Sports Training Village, where they use the world-class gym and the newly-improved outdoor push-track – the only one of its kind in the country....
Mark Lewis-Francis is determined to add a Winter Olympic medal to his Summer Olympic gold after joining the British Bobsleigh squad, based at the University of Bath. The 33-year-old was part of the Great Britain men’s 4x100m relay team, along with University of Bath sprinter Jason Gardener, which famously won gold at the Athens 2004 Games. Now he has swapped the athletics track for the push track at the £30million Sports Training Village as he...
A host of Olympic, Paralympic and world-class sports people gathered at the University of Bath on Wednesday to take part in the British Athletes Commission’s first Athletes Day. Up-and-coming stars across a wide range of sports – from football to fencing, swimming to sailing, dressage to diving – also attended the event which focused on dealing with sponsors, agents and the media. The day was run by Anna Watkins, the rower who famously won double...
Commonwealth swimming champion Siobhan-Marie O'Connor started the Olympic Day Run to crown a successful Team Bath Community Activity Day at the University of Bath on Saturday. Nearly 1,000 guests of all ages paid a visit to the world-class Sports Training Village facilities, enjoying a wide range of sports and activities. The centrepiece was the annual Olympic Day Run over 5m and 3km, which got under way when London 2012 Olympian O’Connor – who trains at the...
Commonwealth swimming champion Siobhan-Marie O’Connor will act as official starter for the annual Olympic Day Run when it takes places at the University of Bath on Saturday. Being staged over a 5km course at the Sports Training Village or 3km for under-16s, the run will start at 2pm and is the centerpiece of the Team Bath Community Activity Day. Hundreds of people have taken part over the past few years in the run, an international...
Double Olympian Paula Walker has announced her retirement from bobsleigh. The 29-year-old, who trained at the University of Bath, piloted Britain to 11th place at the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver and 12th at Sochi 2014. She gave birth to daughter Poppy later that year and is set to marry fellow British Bobsleigh pilot John Jackson, so Walker is retiring to focus on her family. “It's been a very tough decision to leave the...
It was an exciting – and successful – weekend of FIBT World Championship action for the winter sports athletes who train with British Skeleton and British Bobsleigh at the University of Bath’s Sports Training Village. No more so than for Lizzy Yarnold, who was overjoyed after completing a grand slam of skeleton titles with a stunning victory in Winterberg, Germany. “I am so pleased I can say I’m World Champion as well as Olympic Champion...
Lizzy Yarnold claimed her second FIBT World Cup gold medal of the season and fellow Sochi 2014 Olympian Dominic Parsons finished just outside the medals on another impressive weekend for British Skeleton. Yarnold became the first slider to win two World Cup races this season as she completed her two runs at Königssee in an overall time of 1min 44.24secs, putting her a comfortable 0.71 ahead of Germany’s Anja Huber Selbach. Russia’s Maria Orlova took...
Olympic and Paralympic titles, World Championship success and 27 Commonwealth Games medals are just some of the reasons that 2014 has been another unforgettable year of sport at the University of Bath. And the year ahead promises to be equally memorable, with the Modern Pentathlon European Championships and Australia’s Rugby World Cup squad both being hosted at the Sports Training Village. The undoubted highlight of 2014 came on Valentine’s Day when British Skeleton star Lizzy...