Welshpool's Adele Nicoll praised for her role in strong finish in two-women bobsleigh at Winter Olympics
Adele Nicoll won praise for a "fantastic job" to help earn a 15th-placed finish in the two-women bobsleigh at the Winter Olympics.
Pilot Nicoll, alongside fellow Games debutant Ashleigh Nelson secured the finish among the global elite in a combined time of 3:51.82.
Nelson and Nicoll, from Welshpool, sat in 21st place overnight after a difficult first run propelled them to the back of the field.
But a new day calls for a new attitude and the duo moved up the rankings from 21 to 16th in their third run and let out fist pumps of elation after crossing the line.
Add that to a storming fourth run of 57.80, their fastest of the competition, and the two ended their Olympic campaign on a high.
"I’m really happy with how it went," said Nelson.
"After the first few heats, Adele has done a fantastic job to turn things around.
"I’m just so happy and elated to be at my fourth Olympics and first Winter Olympics. I’ve done it!
"It was really hard to keep our head in the game but it just goes to show what professionals we both are.
"It’s been less than two years since I started bobsleigh and I’m just so overwhelmed that I’m at an Olympic Games.
"I owe it to the team around me, Adele, Kya [Placide] and all the coaching staff. I’m honoured to be a winter Olympian."
For former Oswestry Olympian Nicoll, 29, who is a three times British shot put champion, it was another experience of the top level of winter sport after she made history as the first British woman to compete in the monobob.
Nelson, 35, had already represented Team GB at two Olympics, taking to the athletics track at Beijing 2008 and Tokyo 2020, as well as being selected for Rio 2016 before withdrawing.
But after missing out on selection to Paris, she jumped at the opportunity of a change and took to bobsleigh almost quicker than she could run 100m.
It meant that Nelson became only the second British woman in history to compete in different sports at the Summer and Winter Olympics, behind fellow athletics to bobsleigh graduate Montell Douglas, who was part of Team GB at Beijing 2022.
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