The Isle of Wight’s Kim Murray and Olympic bronze medalist Laura Deas are among 6 British Skeleton sliders selected for this year’s opening World Cup races as the team look to build on last season’s historic success.
Deas made the podium in her maiden Olympic Winter Games in South Korea in February as British Skeleton celebrated an unprecedented hat-trick of medals. For 2018-2019 Deas is joined in the women’s team by Kim Murray and Maddy Smith, with Jerry Rice, Jack Thomas and Marcus Wyatt making up the men’s team.
It was 3 years ago that Island Echo first reported on Kim’s dream of gold glory at the Beijing Winter Olympics in 2022. Kim is a former long jumper and won Gold for the Isle of Wight at the 2007 NatWest Island Games in Rhodes. Her jump that day (5.95m) still stands as the Games Record, but injury has forced a change in sport.
Kim joined the British Skeleton talent squad in December 2014 through the Power2Podium programme. Now, following years of hard work and fundraising, the 29-year-old is busy preparing for her World Cup debut.
Natalie Dunman, British Skelton’s Interim Performance Director has said:
“The strength in depth in the squad this season is something we’re very proud of.
“We know that people outside the squad will point to Lizzy’s retirement but, while Lizzy is obviously a big loss, we’re genuinely excited about the talent we still have with us.
“Laura produced a superb performance to win bronze in PyeongChang and she’s long established herself as a world-class slider. She is determined to kick on from her Olympic success and there’s no reason why she can’t be in the mix for medals throughout the season.
Article continues below this advertisement “Maddy showed that she has what it takes to compete at the top when she made the step up to World Cup level last season and Kim has impressed on the other circuits and fully deserves her chance to shine this season”.
There are just 2 World Cup races before Christmas this year, with the calendar kicking off in Sigulda, Latvia on 8th/9th December, before moving to Winterberg in Germany the following week. The competition returns after the festive break with 4 straight European races on successive weekends in January before concluding with a race apiece in America and Canada in February.
The showpiece event of the season, the World Championships, takes place in Whistler, Canada in early March.
Selection for the start of the World Cup campaign comes on the back of a 2-heat qualifying race in Winterberg, Germany on Saturday. The race was due to have been held over 4 runs in 2 different venues but the previous week’s race in Lillehammer, Norway was cancelled due to adverse weather.
Well done Kim!
