The bobsleigh brotherhood targeting Olympic success

"If we didn't get on it would be a big problem," British bobsleigher Leon Greenwood says with a wry smile.

The four-man team are used to being in extremely close quarters inside the bobsleigh as they hurtle down the course at 85mph. But it applies beyond the track, too.

"We have to share rooms together, sleep next to each other, listen to each other snoring… it's just a brotherhood."

Greenwood is part of the men's bobsleigh squads which have tasted unprecedented success at World Cup and World Championship level over recent years, expertly piloted by Brad Hall.

But an Olympic medal is missing from their roll of honour and that is what they crave as the season - leading up to the Winter Games in Italy in February - begins.

Before then, they will travel together to races in a van with their sleds and take turns in driving. They also cook for each other and share meals and downtime with the skeleton team.

"We just get on so well and I think that's what makes us stand out and gives us that one-up on everyone else."

Britain have won five bobsleigh medals in the Winter Olympics - four bronzes in four-man, and a gold for the 1964 two-man crew of Robin Dixon and Tony Nash.

For the Milan Cortina 2026 cycle, bobsleigh was awarded £2.8m by UK Sport after a £900,000 uplift in August 2023.

To put it into context, the powerhouse Germany teams spend £2m a year on research and development alone.

"It's a miracle that we win anything at the moment," adds Hall.

"For us to get ahead of that is ridiculous. We need to be perfect in every other area that we've got - the equipment, my driving, being in the best shape.

"If we do all that, we've shown we can be competitive against them. Even though it's tough, we've shown it is possible."

The first World Cup race of the season was held at the newly-built Eugenio Monti Sliding Centre in Cortina d'Ampezzo, which will be the venue for the bobsleigh, skeleton and luge events at the 2026 Winter Olympics.

Great Britain finished sixth in both two-man and four-man races, which were dominated by the German crews.

It was the first time the quartet of Hall, Greenwood, Alex Cartagena and Greg Cackett had pushed together in international competition.

"We come into this season with a few injuries, not quite in the place we want to be right now," explains Hall.

"It's definitely tough. Two of the main crew members that we've won World Cup and Championship medals with over the past few years aren't with us.

"But we've still got three months until the Olympics and enough time to get it all sorted for then."

'Bobsleigh is a real hard labour sport'

Key brakeman Taylor Lawrence is out of competition until after Christmas with a calf injury.

Former team-mate Arran Gulliver, who was part of the GB sled that claimed four-man bronze in last season's World Championships, is serving a two-year ban for a doping offence.

Injuries and disruption to squads are a reality of hard-graft winter sports.

As two-time Olympian Cackett says: "Bobsleigh is a real hard-labour sport.

"You're constantly moving, lifting, shifting 200kg sleds with no warm-up.

"So when you get to race day, it really is in spite of being hit by a sledgehammer of everything else you're doing."

"People only really see us in our race suits," says debutant Cartagena.

"But it's a lot of work. Sometimes six months away from home, training most days in freezing conditions.

"You do get home after months away and need a month off just to decompress and go again."

After competing in Italy, the team packed up their sleds and headed for Innsbruck in Austria. It is the second of seven World Cup races in Europe before the Winter Olympics get under way next year.