Adelé Nicoll and Kya Placide won Women’s Bobsleigh World Cup silver in Lake Placid on Saturday afternoon just two months after they first slid together at the top level.

Nicoll, a former Oswestry Olympian from Welshpool, joined Placide in clocking a combined time of 1 minute 54.2 seconds in the United States to beat a whole host of big names, including the reigning Olympic Champion and current Olympic bronze medallist.

The medal was just the second won by a British women’s team in 15 years, matching the silver that 27-year-old Nicoll celebrated as a brakewoman behind Mica McNeill in Sigulda in January 2022.

“I’m extremely proud of the performance we put in,” said Nicoll, who is also the back-to-back British shot putt champion. “To be able to produce that performance on the track that is holding the World Championships next year is a huge confidence boost.

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“We came here with the aim of learning the track so we could go into next season with some experience here but we’ve come away with a silver medal. We couldn’t really be any happier.

“We’re so grateful to everyone who’s supported us to get us here. It started last season when I decided to jump in the front seat. Just having those people in our federation back home believing in you and supporting you to make decisions and push you to be better has been a big thing for us.

“I always drive the 2-woman sled knowing that I want to do well for Kya, too. I’m really happy she was able to give me a good start. She put me in the race and I drove it down to get us both an amazing result.”

Nicoll only switched to the front seat after the Beijing Olympics and had just three World Cup starts to her name in the 2-woman discipline prior to today.

Placide is even newer to the sport, having never set foot in a bobsleigh until this winter after joining the GB set up in the summer. 

The British pair sat in the bronze medal spot at halfway knowing that a top six finish would still be a remarkable result in such a strong field but they went even better in the second run as they maintained their position and then jumped ahead of back-to-back overall World Cup winner Lisa Buckwitz.

They finished four hundredths of a second ahead of Olympic gold medallist Laura Nolte and eight hundredths clear of Buckwitz, with Switzerland’s Melanie Hassler almost two tenths of a second behind them.

Only Germany’s Kim Kalicki finished in front of the Welsh duo as she and Leonie Fiebig came down in 1 minute 53.39.