Shropshire Star

Stuart Benson aims for flying start at Sochi

Shropshire-based bobsledder Stuart Benson and his team-mates are hoping to hit the ground running in Sochi this week.

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Benson, a corporal based at RAF Cosford, will be among the team taking part in the four-man event which starts on Saturday.

And they have been perfecting their starts on a track in Germany that is similar to the one they will compete in at the Games to help them make a flying start to the competition.

Benson said "We've trained on a track with a short, flat start and then a drop-off and we've done a lot of work fine-tuning that, so hopefully in the first few pushes we can really nail it."

Britain's four-man bobsleigh team – which includes pilot John Jackson, plus brakemen Joel Fearon and Bruce Tasker – have arrived in Sochi in confident mood following their meticulous training regime in Germany.

They will go into the competition in good form having won World Cup silver in Lake Placid in December before claiming silver at the European Championships last month.

And they also took to the Sochi track well during the Olympic test event which saw them finish fifth.

"The Sochi track seems to suit my driving style quite well," said Jackson, who made a surprisingly quick return to action in November after he ruptured his Achilles in July.

"We gelled with the track straight away. We came fifth in the Olympic test event in February so we are hoping to make the step up into the top three and see how we go from there."

Britain have qualified two sleds in the four man event with Broseley's Ben Simons forming one quarter of the second team.

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