Nicoll admits nerves as she targets Olympic success
Adele Nicoll admits her legs felt like jelly at the top of the Cortina Sliding Centre, but when the heat was on, she held firm on her Olympic debut.
The 29-year-old is 13th at the halfway stage of the women’s monobob competition, which is her second strongest bobsleigh discipline behind the two-woman event.
She will race in that with Ashleigh Nelson later this week, but the single event marks a golden opportunity to get her eye in on a technical track.
Nicoll, the only Welsh athlete at the Winter Olympics, was an alternate at the last Games in Beijing, with Sunday’s runs marking her first appearance in competition.
And she admits the special moment at the top of the slide caught the back of her throat.
“I think that I was more nervous than maybe I'd realised for the first run, and I felt a little bit like jelly on the blocks,” the Welshpool racer said.
“Standing on the block today and seeing the Milano Cortina Olympic rings was really surreal and actually emotional.
“So, it wasn't my usual start but to be honest, to be able to be down there but then still end up where I was shows that I had a solid run.
“For my second, I was just looking to improve on both elements. I did that and like you can see my reaction.
“Everybody always comments on how happy I am when I cross the line regardless of what position I'm in. The only time I'll be upset is if I've had a bad run, I don't really look at what anyone else is doing.
“I knew that was a good run, I felt the push was strong, so I'll always celebrate my own wins.
”Bobsleigh athletes race four times down the track, with the lowest cumulative time winning gold."
Nicoll was 16th after the first runs, clocking a 1:00.54s around the 1.2km circuit, but went 0.25s faster on her second to climb three spots.
Speaking in the TNT Sports studio, former Team GB Olympic bobsleigh pilot, Lamin Deen said: "Adele improved her start. She cleaned up the areas that she was making mistakes on first run, it was impressive.
“However, what her disadvantage is, she's a new driver, and she's gone from 0 to the Olympics in, you know, a fast amount of time."
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