“All I kept thinking about was the pressure of the fourth run at the Olympics and how would we respond."
Those were Brad Hall's thoughts as he led Britain's 4-man into a fourth run of the World Cup weekend in Winterberg in silver medal position.
Because it is is exactly there that Hall, Taylor Lawrence, Nick Gleeson and Greg Cackett want to be on the 20th February at the Olympic Games in Beijing.
"We had three world-class sleds breathing down our necks after the first run - they were just two hundredths, four hundredths and sixth hundredths behind us - and we knew we were under pressure," he said.
“We responded by pulling out a brilliant push and I managed to get the sled down and secure a silver medal. I’m incredibly proud of the boys."
Hall and his push crew are campaigning brilliantly on the road to China - this is their second 4-man silver of the season, the fourth overall for Hall.
The Brits were again among the top starters in the 26-strong field, with times of 5.03 and 5.06 seconds the second and third fastest of their heats as they built on Saturday's fine fifth-place finish at the same venue.
Their first run of 54.86 gave them only 0.02s worth of advantage on the chasing Austrians in bronze, which they opened up to 0.06 with an excellent second run.
“What’s so exciting for us was that today felt like a bit of a dress rehearsal for the Olympics - it was a 2-day race weekend and on the final run we brought out a huge start, bringing our time down by three hundredths and that was an unbelievable team effort,” added Cackett.
Royal Marine Commando Lawrence made his GB debut at the same track almost two years ago today in a Europa Cup race.
“It was a really important race for me as it’s two seasons on from when I made my debut here and it feels like we’ve come on leaps and bounds in that time,” said Lawrence.
"Coming away today after a double 4-man race with a silver medal is something that’s very special.
“I’m mega proud of everyone. Brad’s driving was awesome and our pushing was top quality today.”
Sportsbeat 2021