 | Meet Laura Deas
Laura Deas is one of Britain’s leading contenders for the Winter Olympic ‘Bob Skeleton’ team. She is on course to be selected for the team which will compete in 2014 at the Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia.
Laura started life on snow learning to ski with Simon Butler Skiing. A former Pony Club Tetrathlete and three-day-eventer with an impressive record of success in various County level sports before she was ‘talent spotted‘ for the sport of Bob Skeleton in early 2009.
Laura spent time training abroad during the winter of 2009 and already, her ‘push’ times are on a par with the best performers in the world.
Based on her performance, Laura will be given an international ranking though a series of competitions. She has already successfully competed in the Europa Cup with two podium finishes and has qualified for the Junior World Championships in January 2011. Over the next two winter seasons, she will progress to the World Cup, after which she will hopefully be selected to compete at the 2014 Olympic Games.
Laura is 22 and comes from Wrexham, North Wales where she still lives with her family – that’s when she isn’t training at the British Skeleton state-of-the-art facilities at the University of Bath or competing in qualifying trials abroad. She was head girl at Howells School in Denbigh and obtained considerable recognition for her achievements on and off the sports field. |
What is ‘Bob Skeleton’?
Bob Skeleton is one of the three bob track events and is the fastest growing of all the bob sports. It was successfully re-introduced to the Olympic arena in 2002 at the Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City after a 54 year absence, as it was last held on the Cresta Run in 1948.
From a still-standing start at the top of a man-made ice track, the athlete sprints 20 to 30 metres, pushing what is little more than a tin tray on runners before diving aboard. Head first, with no brakes or means of mechanical steering and with no margin for error, the athlete adopts a face down position continuing to accelerate under gravity to speeds of up to 140 kph (80 mph). The rider steers by shifting their body weight and aerodynamic profile in unison with the track physics. Timing is to within 1/100th of a second as the athletes race against the clock to record the fastest time possible.
The ice tracks range in length between 1 to 1.5 kms with about 15 bends and twists. Each track has a different combination of bends, some looping through a full horizontal 360 degrees, where the athlete negotiates the equivalent of a wall two storeys high. As the athlete descends the track, they experience `G forces' of plus 5 Gs.
Not for the faint-hearted, the sport tests athletes to the limit, both physically and mentally.
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