7,000 Chase Olympic Dream
More than 7,000 aspiring athletes have signed up to the British Bobsleigh & Skeleton Association’s talent identification campaign following the 2026 Olympic Winter Games.
That number far surpasses previous interest, with multi-sport campaigns run in conjunction with UK Sport and the UK Sports Institute typically attracting around half that number.
Those sign ups all came since the turn of the year, with the vast majority of applicants filling in a form on the BBSA website during the Olympics in Cortina and in the weeks that have followed.
The premise was simple: ‘could you be our next Olympic Champion?’ The response was incredible.
“We’ve been absolutely delighted with the number of people who have said they want to be a part of our team,” said the BBSA’s Executive Performance Director, Natalie Dunman.
“The response has been staggering. We are acutely aware that we are a minority sport and that we only enter the wider public’s consciousness once every four years so to have attracted such substantial interest is remarkable.
“We’re very pleased to have captured the public’s imagination and very proud that so many people believe that taking this step with us could genuinely be a path to fulfilling their potential and winning an Olympic medal.”
Olympic success has undoubtedly raised awareness
Medals certainly played their part in prompting so many people to put their names forward to try both sports, with the numbers peaking when Matt Weston won men’s skeleton gold and then Tabby Stoecker and Weston took top spot in the skeleton team event within the space of 48 hours.
No fewer than 1,200 people applied between the time Weston took to the start line for his third run in the individual event and when he finished his anti-doping and media commitments at circa midnight that same evening.
It was an almost identical story two days later when a similar number followed suit between the start of the team race and when Weston and Stoecker had finally left the sliding centre to join the rest of the squad for a well-deserved celebration.
“There’s no doubt that seeing the team succeed on the biggest stage there is has added to the interest,” said Dunman.
“It has to be pretty inspiring to see normal people achieve incredible things. Both Matt and Tabby are relatable and they’ve both followed the same journey that so many others are now signing up to.
“They’ve shown what’s possible through our pathway, and they’re not alone: double Olympic Champion Lizzy Yarnold and bronze medalist Laura Deas came through the same talent ID process and so have so many other World Cup, World Championship and European Championship medalists.
“And it’s not just skeleton, either. Although the results weren’t as strong as we would all have liked in the bobsleigh events in Cortina, the performances those athletes have produced throughout the Olympic cycle has undoubtedly shown the public just how good we can be in those disciplines, too.
“People are clearly confident that we can offer them a genuine opportunity to match the people they’ve watched on TV and to be their best selves.
“The uptake has far exceeded our expectations and it means the work that’s required to filter applications and build the trial programme is much greater than it might have been, but that’s a brilliant problem to have.
“And it’s not just the quantity of applications that has been so eye catching: we’ve been really pleased with the quality, too. We’re confident that we will be able to unearth some genuine stars from the applications. We hope we’re about to find the next Matt and Tabby.”
Applications for the current campaign have now closed but we remain keen to hear from athletes interested in future intakes via the form on the home page of this website.