Coltman displays her resilience in Austria

Melton Mowbray’s Amelia Coltman embraced the opportunity to finetune her skills as the GB skeleton squad travelled to Austria.
By The Newsroom
Published 23rd Dec 2020, 09:49 BST
Amelia Coltman fought back from a crash to record two personal bests.Amelia Coltman fought back from a crash to record two personal bests.
Amelia Coltman fought back from a crash to record two personal bests.

Tasting the highs and lows she followed up a 70mph crash in Igls with two personal bests.

Overall, the 24-year-old came away with some solid performances.

However, the first race didn’t go quite to plan with Amelia having a crash in the first run and just managing to stay on the sled and make it over the finish line.

The weather didn’t help as high winds and drifting snow caused many problems for the sliders and it was decided to discount the first run and only the second run would count.

Crashing at speeds of more than 70mph with no more than a Lycra suit on isn’t the best preparation to go again within an hour.

But having been checked over by the medical team and concussion ruled out, Amelia showed resilience and bravery to go again.

She was understandably nervous and sore but managed a good solid run and finished in 16th place just behind her teammate Brogan Crowley.

The following weekend, having had another six training runs on the Igls track, Coltman produced two downtime personal bests, finishing in 17th place.

Amelia has relished competing with the world’s best and knows the areas she needs to work on to continue her progression.

The rest of the season will hopefully continue in the new year after what will be a well earned break for all of the sliders.

British Skeleton began the season in style in Latvia last month but it was athlete development rather than medal success that was the focus in Austria recently.

The decision to select a newer group of sliders comes from a philosophy of maximising performance and development opportunities and designing the best possible path to the Beijing Olympics in 2022 and the Milan Cortina Games four years later.

The fact that ranking points have been suspended for the current season as a result of Covid also means there is less pressure to perform on a weekly basis.