Coltman is targeting Beijing 2022

A FORMER De Lisle College and Loughborough College student has beaten off the challenge of 3,500 rivals to win a place on the GB Skeleton talent team.

Amelia Coltman (21) was a county high jump and long jump champion and a keen hockey player but her primary sporting focus prior to skeleton was racquet sports.

She won a national silver medal with her school badminton team and was a county doubles champion and national mixed doubles champion in tennis before successfully coming through the UK Sport talent identification campaign, Discover Your Gold, in 2016/17.

Now she has her sights set on the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, has relocated to Bath to embark on full-time training with the GB team and launched a funding page to help with the costs of chasing her Olympic dream.

“I realised that I wanted a new sporting challenge and had potential so signed up for the UK Sport Talent ID campaign ‘Discover Your Gold’.

“I went through four separate phases of testing consisting of physical, mental and sliding ability on ice. Eventually, I was selected from 3,500 other applicants onto the Talent Squad.

“My first season on ice will be focused on learning all about sliding and experiencing new tracks around the world. This will prepare me to achieve my goal of representing Great Britain and hopefully competing at the Olympic Games in 2022.

“I am entering into a World Class Programme that has shown continuous success, winning medals in every Olympics since Skeleton was added, including two golds.

“I am confident that I can achieve my goal with my passion and determination in addition to the strong support team that surround me.

“I would like to raise £2,500 to assist with my living costs as I relocate to Bath to train full-time over the summer months, as I do not receive any funding for the first two years.”

If you want to help visit https://www.pledgesports.org/ projects/ sliding-to- skeletonsuccess/