Bobsleigh World Cup: Adele Nicoll and Kya Placide win silver in two-woman event

Adele Nicoll (front) and Kya Placide (back) only competed together competitively for the first time two months ago

Great Britain's Adele Nicoll and Kya Placide won silver at the Bobsleigh World Cup in Lake Placid just two months after first sliding together competitively.

Nicoll, 27, and Placide, 19, finished second in the two-woman event with a time of one minute 54.2 seconds from their two runs.

It is only the second medal won by a British women's team in 15 years.

Britain's Corie Mapp also took silver in the men's para-bobsleigh event.

Placide had never stepped into a bobsleigh until this winter, while Nicoll had only three world cup starts in the two-woman discipline before Saturday.

However, she was part of the last British women's team to win a world cup medal, alongside Mica McNeill in Sigulda, Latvia in January 2022.

Nicoll was "extremely proud" of her and fellow Welsh competitor Placide's efforts..

"To be able to produce that performance on the track that is holding the World Championships next year is a huge confidence boost," she said.

"We came here with the aim of learning the track so we could go into next season with some experience here, but we've come away with a silver medal. We couldn't really be any happier.

"We're so grateful to everyone who's supported us to get us here. It started last season when I decided to jump in the front seat. Just having those people in our federation back home believing in you and supporting you to make decisions and push you to be better has been a big thing for us."

Placide said: "I'm feeling on top of the world, to be honest. I never, ever thought a World Cup medal would come this early into my career. I'm almost lost for words.

"We want to thank the whole of the BBSA, especially our coach, Sean (Olsson) and our performance director, Mark (Silva), plus everyone else who has supported us along the way."

The 2023 two-woman bobsleigh world champions Kim Kalicki and Leonie Fiebig of Germany finished 0.81 seconds ahead of the British pair.

Germany's Olympic champion Laura Nolte, with Claudia Schussler, came third to seal the overall world cup title and retain the gold crystal globe trophy she won last year.

Meanwhile, Mapp's silver in La Plagne, France, means the 45-year-old only has to finish in the top six of Sunday's event to take the overall 2023-24 World Cup crown, having finished in the medals in five of the seven races so far this season.