British bobsleigh pilot Lamin Deen labelled the No.2 crew’s top-20 finish at their first Winter Olympics together in Sochi as a great result given the circumstances.
Deen drove the crew of himself, John Baines, Ben Simons and Andrew Matthews to 19th place at the Sanki Sliding Center with a combined time of 3:43.52 minutes from their four runs.
It hasn’t been the most straightforward of campaigns for Deen with Craig Pickering having to withdraw injured, being replaced by Matthews, and the new quartet having only four weeks together.
But Deen, who started driving after the Vancouver 2010 Games, insists to be able to break into the top 20 in a highly-competitive field at the Winter Olympics shouldn’t go unnoticed.
“It has been fantastic,” said Deen, who placed 23rd in the two-man event earlier at the Games with Baines.
“It has been a long, long road for me and the boys, every individual guy has had their problems but we are all here together as a team.
“For me starting as a pilot four years ago after Vancouver and being here and driving two and four-man and being in the top 20 in the world is great.
“Big shout out to Craig. We were all devastated that he couldn’t be here with us but he has been sending us messages of encouragement and I think we really did him proud.”
© Sportsbeat 2014