Melton’s Amelia Coltman joins top tier racing as she eyes up Winter Olympics spot

Amelia Coltman - now racing top tier with GB as she chases Winter Olympics dream.

In her fifth year of sliding, Amelia, 27, has enjoyed continued success that has finally elevated her to her sport's top level

Having won both of the British team selection races, Amelia flew out to Beijing to represent Team GB for the first round on the 2022 Olympic track, known as the Dragon's tail.

One of the most technically challenging tracks on the circuit, she finished in a credible 13th place and her next races will be round two at La Plagne, France and round three in Innsbruck, Austria both in December.

“I am delighed to get onto the top tier of racing this year and I feel I am absolutely ready for it after a successful season last year and a really solid pre-season,” she said.

“I feel full of confidence after how things went on the Intercontinental Cup circuit. Now I feel ready to take the next step and really go for it.

“I was a bit disappointed with my first race of the season, but it was a new track for me and a bit tricker than I was expecting. I will pick things up in the next few races.”

Having missed out on the China 2022 Olympics, Amelia knows the main 2026 Games are in Milano-Corntina Italy, but the sliding event will be held at a venue outside Italy after their government decided not to pay for a new track.

“There is a lot of controversy about where our races will be and it would be a shame to miss out on the full Olympics experience having worked so hard to get there,” she said.

“If selected, we could end up in a hotel in maybe Austria miles away from the rest of the team in an Olympic Village in Italy. But that doesn't change anything – the Olympics is still the dream.

“We don't get to find out selection until a few weeks before, so all I can do is be consistent at this top level between now and then.

“I missed out largely through injury in 2022. I was on a long list for it from 2020 but needed three surgeries so the dream ended pretty quickly for that one.”

A former Melton Times Sports Personality of the Year, Amelia managed the best achievement of her career at the turn of this year with a career-best gold medal in round six of the prestigious IBSF Intercontinental Cup in South Korea.

She has been high on the sport's rader since the start of her international skeleton racing career when she won the Europa Cup in her debut season - the first British woman to achieve this, eclipsing the debut silver won by Britain’s most successful Winter Olympian, Lizzie Yarnold.

The skeleton discipline sees competitors slide on icy tracks at rapid speeds on a small sled.