British Soldiers Named In Team GB Winter Olympics Bobsleigh Squad

Two British soldiers have been included in the 10-strong Team GB bobsleigh team for the Winter Olympics in South Korea.

Lance Sergeant Lamin Deen (above), of the Grenadier Guards, will be one of the two drivers in the four-man teams, along with fellow athlete Bradley Hall.

Private Nick Gleeson, of the 3rd Battalion, the Parachute Regiment (3 PARA) is also included in Britain's PyeongChang 2018 squad.

Pte Gleeson starred earlier this month in a top-10 Bobsleigh World Cup finish in St Moritz

LSgt Deen said: "I'm overwhelmed. It hasn't sunk in. You have to remind yourself - 'I'm going to an Olympic Games again.'

"Last time I was a little like a rabbit in the headlights and I was just very, very pleased to be there. Now, it's a race - that's what it’s about. We're racing against the same people we race against week in, week out and we've been faster than them and won medals against them this year.

"This squad is a fantastic place to be. I've said it right from the very start of the season: everyone has helped each other and it's genuinely been a pleasure to train with this team, compete with these guys and win medals with each other."

Pte Gleeson said: "Last season, I wasn't focused on these Games at all. I never thought I'd get there. But times change.

"The Army has given me a work ethic of, 'If you're going to do it, do it properly,' so that has stuck with me in bobsleigh." 

"But I never thought I'd be able to call myself an Olympian. I didn't think I'd be competing at the biggest competition in the world."

Team GB will have participants in all three disciplines, with Hall also piloting a two-man sled.

Competing in the women's bobsleigh, which is always contested by two-woman teams, will be Mica McNeill and Mica Moore, with the former at the helm.

The pair are included despite being unfunded by the British Bobsleigh Association, having raised the £30,000 they needed through crowdfunding.

The last time Team GB won an Olympic bobsleigh medal was in 1998, but the four-man bob that competed in the Sochi games in 2014 - driven by Royal Marine Sergeant John Jackson - could receive a bronze medal in Pyeongchang.

They finished fifth four years ago but the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has since disqualified two Russian teams, who finished first and fourth, over doping.

GB bobsleigh head coach, Lee Johnston, himself a former Royal Marine and Olympian, said: "I'm excited to see what this team can achieve in PyeongChang on the back of a very successful season on the World Cup circuit.

"We've got a team of very talented and hard-working athletes and support staff and they've won medals or recorded best-ever results already this season. They've stuck together and have shown they can compete with the best in the world."

Take a look below at the Team GB squad in full...

• Men's bobsleigh - Pilots: Lamin Deen, Brad Hall. Brakemen: Greg Cackett, Joel Fearon, Nick Gleeson, Andrew Mathews, Toby Olubi, Ben Simons
• Women's bobsleigh - Pilot: Mica McNeill. Brakewoman: Mica Moore

It comes after a British Army soldier was selected as Team GB's sole biathlete for PyeongChang 2018.

Cover image courtesy of the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation (IBSF).

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