PD proud of Olympic success
Pride remains the over-riding emotion for the BBSA’s Executive Performance director, Natalie Dunman, when she looks back at the 2026 Olympic Winter Games two-and-a-half months on from returning from Milan Cortina.
Dunman led the British Skeleton programme to two gold medals in Italy as Matt Weston won the men’s event before teaming up with Tabby Stoecker to take top spot in the team competition two days later.
No British programme had ever won more than one gold medal at a Winter Games prior to February and the significance of that achievement isn’t lost on Dunman.
“To look back and say that we made history is very satisfying,” said Dunman, who began her role with the BBSA in 2018.
“Coming away with two gold medals was amazing, particularly when you consider that we compete against so many major winter sport nations and we don’t have our own ice track here in the UK.
To achieve something that has never been done before in winning more than one gold at a Winter Olympics is something we’re all very proud of.
“We knew the team were capable of making history but, in the moment, you’re just so focussed on preparation and performance that you don’t really take it all in. Sometimes you need to take a step back to appreciate just how special it really was and the past couple of months has definitely given me more of a chance to do that.
“Those medal winning moments will live long in the memory for all of us. They were special times and I think everyone who watched on TV or saw photos in the press could see how much it meant to the team. There’s something really satisfying about seeing your team get the rewards for all their hard work and commitment. You know how much effort the staff and athletes have put in over the years; you know what it’s taken to get to this point; and you know what it means to everyone involved.”
Dunman led GB to gold medal success in Italy
Despite the enormity of the achievement, Dunman kept her emotions in check in the finish area in Cortina, largely standing back while the athletes enjoyed their medal winning moments.
The real celebrations came a little later on when the team all came together, having been spread out across different parts of the track for the race itself.
“The moments immediately after Matt and then Matt and Tabby won gold were amazing: there’s a sense of relief mixed with excitement and there’s an outpouring of emotion from so many people. The public see the athletes celebrating; they see the Union flag being raised at the medal ceremony; they see Matt and Tabby speaking to the media; but it’s probably the moments away from the cameras that were even more special for us as a group,” added Dunman.
“We celebrated all together at a hotel after the mixed team race and that was pretty memorable. All the skeleton staff and athletes let their hair down a bit and just enjoyed the moment rather than thinking about what was next.
The Olympics is the pinnacle of our sport and something we spend a full four years building up to. That evening was the culmination of an incredible amount of unseen hard work from the athletes and the staff.
“We’ve had a lot of success over the last four years but that was the first time where we could really relax because there wasn’t something bigger on the horizon that we were looking ahead to and planning for.”
Success was celebrated as a team once racing was over
There’s already been a lot to plan for since arriving back in the UK, though, with attentions now having turned to how to do even better at the next Olympics in the French Alps in 2030.
Dunman and her staff have spent time reviewing the performances of both the skeleton and bobsleigh programmes, not only in Cortina but across the four-year cycle as a whole, and athletes have also had their input into what went right and what went wrong over the four weeks in Italy and the four years building up to the Games.
There’s been a lot to digest, a lot to celebrate, a lot to learn from and a lot to be positive about moving forward.
“We were obviously delighted to win two Olympic golds but we also felt that we could have come away with more medals, so that’s always in the back of your mind. We came close to getting two teams on the podium in the skeleton team event and Tabby wasn’t too far off in the individual race, either. We know that Marcus (Wyatt) was good enough to medal if things had gone differently and we genuinely felt we could have medalled in the 4-man bobsleigh as we’d been one of the best teams in the world over the whole cycle.
We’ve already started looking at what we can do better over the next four years and we’ve looked back in detail at things we did well and things we could have done differently in Cortina.
“We know that the Olympics is where we really get judged as a programme but we’ve also had incredible success in both sports throughout the cycle as a whole. We won 78 World Cup medals, 10 World Championship medals and 15 Overall World Cup medals and that gives us a great platform to build from as we look towards 2030. We want to feel just as proud when we look back on the Games in the French Alps as we do looking back at Milan Cortina and the work has already started to make sure that’s the case.”