As a child, Laura Deas could not have been further from the ice track.
The PyeongChang bronze medallist first fell into skeleton racing aged 19 thanks to UK Sport’s Girls4Gold talent identification programme.
A natural sportswoman, she played hockey to a high level in her youth and went on to compete in equestrian sports as a teenager.
Despite a two-year spell in professional eventing, Deas went from rider to slider in 2009 after taking her family’s advice to apply to the programme.
Her brother first heard Girls4Gold advertised on the radio and quickly recommended it to Deas, remembering that she once dreamed of competing at the Olympic Games.
The programme required Deas to undergo a series of physical trials to match her with an Olympic event that suited her profile - at first she was most interested in modern pentathlon given her background.
However, once the study had classified her as a skeleton athlete, Deas became glued to the sled having found a new passion.
The initial training required both courage and resilience: she travelled abroad to train at several different tracks and hurtled down at speeds of up to 90mph with little experience.
Deas soon followed in the footsteps of Team GB’s skeleton greats, winning bronze in PyeongChang alongside her mentor, friend and future bridesmaid Lizzy Yarnold, who claimed the gold.
The 2018 feat smashed several records – not only was Deas the first Welsh athlete to win a Winter Olympic medal but it was also the first time two Team GB athletes shared a podium in an individual event.
Deas became something of a hometown hero in Llanfynydd, the village in which she grew up and went to school, as residents chose to paint the phone box bronze in admiration of her achievements.
Since PyeongChang, Deas won another bronze in the 2019 IBSF World Cup in Calgary and has developed into Team GB’s most experienced skeleton racer, after Lizzy Yarnold’s retirement.
Sitting 21st after the first two runs in the women's skeleton, Deas will take to the ice again for the third heat on Saturday and will race in the fourth and final run if she is inside the top 20.