GB duo excited to build on medal-winning season

Kya Placide (left) and Adele Nicoll won Great Britain's first Europa Cup gold medal since 2017 in St Moritz at the start of 2024

Great Britain's Adele Nicoll and Kya Placide say they are "ready to fight with the best in the world for podiums", as they get ready to start their 2024-25 bobsleigh campaign.

In January the Welsh duo won gold in the two-woman event at the Europa Cup in St Moritz, Switzerland, before finishing off last season with a silver medal at the final round of the World Cup in Lake Placid, USA.

Unsurprising then, that Nicoll, 28, and Placide, 20, are optimistic for the new World Cup series which begins in Altenberg, Germany, from 2-8 December.

"I am incredibly excited for this season," said Nicoll.

"We have worked so hard over the summer to put all the right things in place for us to be doing well and better than last year."

Track sprinter Placide had never stepped into a bobsleigh until last winter, while Nicoll had made only three World Cup starts in the two-woman discipline before their second-place finish in March.

Double UK shot put champion Nicoll - who reached the 2022 Commonwealth Games shot put final representing Wales - described winning bobsleigh silver in Lake Placid as "an amazing feeling and a feeling I would like to experience more".

Part of the previous British women's team to win a World Cup medal - alongside Mica McNeill in January 2022 - Nicoll switched to pilot to begin her new partnership last year.

"I didn't know what to expect, now going into my second season with more experience than I did, I have goals I really want to achieve," she added.

"We’ve worked so hard all summer to improve on our starts and technical bits, so now it's all about transferring what we’ve practiced at Bath [the British Bobsleigh training centre] and put that on the ice."

Cymru connection

Adele Nicoll's local football club The New Saints are firm supporters of her bobsleigh career

Nicoll, from Welshpool, met Cardiff sprinter Placide on the athletics circuit and they proudly display their Welsh connections.

As well as a Wales flag on their bobsled, it also sports the logo of Nicoll's local football team The New Saints (TNS), who have been flying the flag for Wales in the Uefa Conference League this season.

"We have a real strong partnership with TNS who are just dominating the Welsh football league and really making history," said Nicoll, who is keen to be a role model.

"So with us and them as a team we’re really doing well to put Wales on the map and to show we aren’t here to play games, we’re here for business and we are here to win.

"It's so important for visibility for younger athletes coming up and coming through that things are possible. I come from a very small town in mid Wales and Kya comes from Llanrumney [in Cardiff].

"We are so proud to be racing against the world's best athletes in the sport with the Welsh flag on our sled."

Nicoll and Placide have their sights set on February's European Championships in Lillehammer, Norway, and the World Championships back in Lake Placid in March.

Before that the pair will aim to further establish their presence in the sport in the opening rounds of the World Cup.

"No athlete ever enters a comp wanting to come away with anything less than their best," said Nicoll, who has also featured in BBC Three's Go Hard Or Go Home series.

"If that means winning medals getting on podiums or getting top 10s then fantastic.

"I will approach each race as it comes and assess where I'm at and where our goals are when we are racing back-to-back every weekend.

"It’s pretty tough to stay on top form every weekend so we will have to target races, which the team and athletes have discussed, but I want to go and deliver performances I can be proud of and just know that I am continuing to learn."