Shot put champion Nicoll throws icy focus on to bobsleigh glory

Chance university encounter led athlete to the frozen track and a possible run at Milan-Cortina in February

- Ben Bloom

Walking through the University of Bath's vast sports complex to Britain's only bobsleigh push-start track, a momentary silence is broken by the thwack of a ball and hearty cheers from excited adolescent spectators.

It is the first Wednesday afternoon - when inter-university sport takes centre stage - of the academic year, and Adele Nicoll is reflecting on how her own undergraduate days inadvertently led her to this point. Nicoll, then a sport and exercise science student at Cardiff University, had an eye on making it as an international shot putter, but not to the detriment of enjoying all aspects of university life; she played as hard as she worked.

Upon graduating in the summer of 2020, serendipity struck when she met up with a university friend made while sampling the Welsh capital's nightlife. "I didn't actually have a friendship with this girl outside of the clubs," she says.

"So we decided to be wholesome, change the dynamic of the friendship and meet outside of a bar for once."

Prompted by Covid restrictions, the pair headed to a local park and went for a run. At one point, Nicoll asked her friend to record her undertaking a series of sprints. The video, uploaded on to social media, would change her life.

It caught the eye of a British bobsleigh athlete, who sent Nicoll a message asking if she had ever considered giving the winter sport a go. At that point, she barely knew bobsleigh existed. Little more than five years on, she now has the Winter Olympics in her sights.