Crowdfunded sled helps Brad Hall & Nick Gleeson to fourth at Bobsleigh World Championships

Hall and Gleeson in the crowdfunded sled

Brad Hall and Nick Gleeson recorded a best British finish in 53 years in the World Championship two-man bobsleigh event - using a crowdfunded sled.

UK Sport withdrew funding for the sport's programme after GB teams failed to challenge for a medal at the 2018 Winter Olympics.

Hall launched a crowdfunding campaign to help raise £6,000 which enabled him to source a sled for the competition.

Germany won a fifth successive title from hosts Canada at Whistler.

It was also a fifth victory for Francesco Friedrich, as he won by more than half a second, with another German sled in third.

Hall and Gleeson, who had said without the sled, he said it would be like "Lewis Hamilton driving a Peugeot 106 in Formula 1", finished 0.25 seconds outside of the medal places.

Hall, 28, and Gleeson, 22, had sat fourth overnight after the first two runs on the fastest track in the world in Whistler - racing at speeds up to 94mph - and finished in the same position on Sunday.

The British team knew they needed to secure a medal, or at least challenge for one, in order to convince UK Sport to reinvest in the programme heading towards the next Winter Olympics in Beijing in 2022.

In January, Hall used a rented sled to secure sixth place in St Moritz, Switzerland, which was GB's best two-man World Cup result for 13 years.

Britain have won the two-man world title twice before. Frederick McEvoy and Byran Black were victorious in 1937, finishing second the year after.

Anthony Nash and Robin Dixon, who were world champions in 1965, also finished third in 1963 and 1966.