Great Britain’s short track speed skating performance director Stuart Horsepool claims they have made a statement of intent ahead of the Winter Olympics.
In the first three months of this year 12 of the 14 skaters training at Nottingham’s National Ice Centre finished on the podium at major international events.
Elise Christie and Charlotte Gilmartin both won medals in January’s European Championships, with Christie also winning the 1000m World Cup title and bronze over the same distance at the World Championships.
And as they returned to training from their final holiday before Sochi 2014, Horsepool wants them to maintain last season’s form.
“We’ve put a marker down now and are in the playing field, but there’re other nations out there trying equally as hard,” he said.
“I expect the best performance we possibly can give at the Olympics, whatever that is.
“We talked with the athletes at the start of the season about what winning in Sochi looks like for us and we’re here to try and win medals.
“But if you wake up every morning with that stress then in about six months you’ll be exhausted, you can’t live like that.
“What you can live with is waking up and trying to be the best you can be, pushing yourself to the limit every single day in every area possible.
“If we do that and reproduce the same team spirit we’ve got at the moment there’s no reason why we can’t fulfil our full potential in Sochi.”
© Sportsbeat 2013