Team evolution is a natural occurrence in every sport and it's no different for British Skeleton this year as two new leading lights lead the charge into the World Cup season.
The British Skeleton squad enjoyed a stellar PyeongChang Olympic Winter Games earlier this year, where Lizzy Yarnold claimed a second successive gold and Dom Parsons a stunning bronze to lead the male and female teams.
Team GB’s third medal came from the Olympic bronze-winning Laura Deas but there was underlying success in the team too as Jerry Rice stepped up with a personal best and tenth-place finish in his maiden Games.
With Yarnold retired and Parsons taking time out to complete his PhD, Deas and Rice are now at the forefront of a six-strong British Skeleton team heading into the new season, and Rice has not exactly been taking his foot off the pedal this summer.
“I didn’t take too much time off to be honest,” explained the 28-year-old. “I had a month after the Olympics and then I just get pretty bored easily so I was back in the gym within a few weeks.
“I had a few events over the summer, got married, and with that of course comes a stag-do but I didn’t take off too much time as I just wanted to build from where I left off really.
“I wanted to push on from my success in PyeongChang so it’s good to get back on the World Cup circuit and hopefully have a successful season.
“I’m feeling much better prepared for this season more than ever and with a bit more experience under my belt now.”
Following on from Great Britain’s unprecedented hat-trick of medals, selection for the forthcoming World Cup was decided by a two-heat qualifying race in Winterberg, Germany, in October.
Rice is joined in the team by Jack Thomas, who has 13 World Cup races already under his belt, and Marcus Wyatt, while Deas is joined in the women’s team by Kim Murray and Maddy Smith.
“It was an amazing thing that happened in South Korea for all of us and I was obviously just pleased for the team but with an added bonus that I stepped up to get my best-ever finish,” added Rice.
“It’s one of those things though that just makes you hungrier. Competition in the squad is even tougher this year, even though Dom (Parsons) isn’t competing and obviously with Lizzy retiring.
“There are hungry young athletes coming through and there’s going to be some great internal competition this season.”
There are just two World Cup races before Christmas this year, with the calendar kicking off in Sigulda, Latvia on December 8 and 9, before moving to Winterberg the following week.
The competition returns after the festive break with four straight European races on successive weekends in January before concluding with a race apiece in America and Canada in February.
The showpiece event of the season, the World Championships, takes place in Whistler, Canada in early March.
Rice continued: “I’ll be racing on a few other circuits and in Europa Cup, just to get some time on the ice under my belt and I’ll try and build some confidence.
“I’m looking to go to the World Championships and finish in the top 12, push towards the top eight if I can but top 12 is my conservative finish.
“We have performance guidelines set out for us as well so I’ve got to finish overall top 50 this year for the programme to keep me on the track.
“It’s more than doable and I’m up for the challenge, as I say I want to be top 12 really if I can.” Sportsbeat 2018