Balance is more important than ever for Laura Deas.
The 2018 Olympic bronze medallist was a picture of speed and precision on the ice during her skeleton career, but she is now looking for a different kind of equilibrium after announcing her retirement from the sport.
Deas first stepped away from the track to have her first child last year, but made no firm plans on what would come next.
But now the 36-year-old feels the time is right to leave the sport for good as she embarks on a new chapter.
“When I left the sport for my maternity leave, I wanted to leave it open-ended,” she said. “I didn’t know if that was definitely the end for me.
“Over the course of the last year, my mentality has shifted slightly and I have decided that I am ready for a fresh challenge.
“It’s all about balance and it was working out what was possible and what was best for everyone in the family, not just me.
“The more we thought about it, the more it became evident that because of the nature of skeleton and the amount of travel involved – almost none of it is based in the UK over the winter – it would just be too difficult to make that work.
“There are great examples of women that are managing to make it work and doing incredible things, but I decided it wasn’t right for me and my family.”
When Deas first paused competing and went on maternity leave, the itch to get back on the sled was still there.
That has ebbed away in recent times, but that does not mean Deas is any less determined to stay active having grown up playing a multitude of different sports to a high level before landing on skeleton.
“Watching the sport from the sidelines over the winter, I realised that I was okay with not being there,” she said. “That was probably the realisation to start with.
“I will always want to do sport to a good level in some way but finding out what that is and what else I can do now is something I am still figuring out.
“My first passion before skeleton was horse riding, so if I could find a way to get back into that in some form that would be amazing.”
If Deas ever needs some advice on moving into retirement, she knows that skeleton team-mate Lizzy Yarnold is only a message away.
The pair shared the Olympic podium in 2018, as Yarnold won gold and Deas bronze – the first time two British athletes had ever shared a Winter Olympic podium – and the pair remain firm friends off the ice.
“It’s really nice that are both in this next chapter together, we are both mums to girls,” added Deas.
“We’re friends, we chat and bounce things off each other. We love to meet up and let the kids play together.
“The fact that Lizzy and I started the sport on the same day, having never done it before, and then 10 years or so later we were on an Olympic podium together, having had wildly different trajectories between those two points, was absolutely magical.
“I will never forget the atmosphere at the bottom of the track in PyeongChang when we both realised we had won medals.
“I looked across the track and there were so many friends and family there that we were able to celebrate with.
It was incredible, it felt like Team GB had taken over the entire venue. It is a memory I am going to cherish forever."
The memories of 2018 are those that will live strongest with Deas in her retirement and she is determined to help bring the sport of skeleton to more people in the next stage of her career.
“It is going to be difficult to stay away, I really want to be involved in some fashion whether that’s on the sidelines or not, I’m not sure," she said.
“It is a sport that draws you back in over and over again because it is such an attention-to-detail sport. I’ve got all this knowledge, where’s it going to go?
“My passion is in broadcasting, hopefully in the future I will be able to bring amazing sports like skeleton that don’t get the year-round attention they deserve to people and demonstrate how exciting they are.”
Sportsbeat 2025