Overcoming an initial injury was a physical challenge but nothing could prepare me for dealing with the mental aspects involved with such a high-risk, adrenaline filled sport and how my body would react. As a team, we have achieved 4 ‘top 6’ wider podium finishes in the 2-man discipline, out of 5 races. We also secured our first Top 10 result in the 4-man discipline. These results have placed us in 6th overall in the European Cup combined rankings and 5th Overall in the 2-man discipline. The only teams ahead of us are the powerhouse nations of Germany and Switzerland. International Bobsleigh & Skeleton Federation (IBSF) Ranking.
The success of these results has proven that, as a team we have world cup potential, meeting the standards set by the British Bobsleigh & Skeleton federation to qualify the team to race against the very best and make our 2-man World Cup debut. This will take place in St Moritz, Switzerland in January 2024 and will be televised to over 25,000 subscribers on YouTube. Along with another World Cup race in Lillehammer Norway.
Our success so far has also put us on track to potentially qualify and be selected for the IBSF World Championships in Winterberg in the early part of 2024. Attending World Cups and World Championships are strong supporting markers in achieving UK sport funding and securing Elite Athlete status within the RAF Sport pathway. We are proving as a team that we have some real potential to be a competitive international bobsleigh team and that the goal of qualifying for the 2026 Olympics is not out of reach.
Our season began In Sigulda, Latvia in late October for some initial ice training in preparation for the last 2-man race of 2023. The initial nerves of being back inside a bobsleigh, at a track I had never slid at before was tough. In the first couple of days, I did make a mistake which resulted in a crash. However, this turned out to give me a bit of relief and confidence that my previous injury sustained was not long-lasting. We ended up finishing in Sigulda with over 25 runs on ice and fully confident for the European Cup races in December.
Our first races of the season took place in Lillehammer, Norway, with one of the busiest racing schedule of the IBSF calendar - 6 races in 7 days. Lillehammer is a track in which I have a lot of experience at, with over 100 runs on ice here we headed into the races quietly confident. Our 2-man equipment is quite competitive and with a solid start I knew we could turn a few heads. The first 3 races saw the team take 6th, 9th & 6th again, outperforming our start times I drove us from 17th place up to a top 6 position on 2 occasions in a field of 31 sleds. Beating the other GB and Marine Pilot who were ranked above us within the GB setup, and only a few hundredths away from 5th place. With a relatively inexperienced crew we set out on performing in the 4-man races too, with the goal to secure a top 10. We achieved this on the last races placing 13th, 11th, 10th. With further investment in our 4-man equipment in the future and improvement in our starts and experience we expect to build on our results into 2024.
The last races for myself and the team took place in Sigulda, Latvia. A double 2-man race at one of the most technical tracks in Europe which usually sees a smaller field of teams due to its location. After our recent podiums Sigulda opened the opportunity to prove that we as a team were not a one-track wonder. Due to my performances in Lillehammer the federation recognised our potential and allowed myself to race with a slightly better brakeman. This improved our push time enabling us to have the 5th fastest push time, ensuring we had the best opportunity to improve and challenge for more podiums. We placed 6th in race 4 and 6th in race 5 matching the Swiss team to a hundredth of a second.
The final challenge of 2023 was to return to the track Altenberg, Germany in which my previous accident that caused my injury had taken place. This was probably the toughest few runs of my bobsleigh career to date, the work and runs which total nearly 75 runs beforehand kept me steady and allowed me to fall back on my training. We finished up with 10 runs on track and confident that we would be in a good position to race here again in the opening races of 2024.
The hard work and determination to get back to competing and the years of commitment developing myself both physically and mentally to perform at the highest level, is finally paying off.
The opportunities for myself to compete at the 2024 World Championships are becoming more and more likely, I’ve been 'released' from Number 1 School of Technical Training for the first few weeks of 2024. I am truly grateful for their support and that of RAF Cosford so far.
But, I am also really excited for the opportunity to take that next step and race on the World cup circuit. Sport has been a massive part of my RAF career, developing through the RAF bobsleigh sport pathway as a novice back in 2013 to now racing at International level for Great Britain has been an amazing journey. It continues as we set our sights firmly on qualifying for the 2024 World Championship in Winterberg, Germany.
If you would like to follow Cpl Stanbridge’s journey more closely you can follow the teams Instagram page: @bobteamstanbridge
