Joel Fearon concedes staying under the radar this summer might be harder than usual with Britain’s four-man bobsleigh rivals intent on discovering the cause of their rise to prominence.
The 24-year-old only started competing in the sport as of November 2011 but has quickly gone from novice to Olympic medal hope following the four-man team’s performances this season.
Fearon, like many before him, has come to bobsleigh from athletics although he hasn’t turned his back on the track, competing mainly in the 100m but also once in the 200m until August last year.
He then turned his attentions to bobsleigh forming part of the British four-man team at six of the nine World Cups this season finishing a best of fifth twice in Whistler and Sochi.
More importantly Fearon was part of the quartet that finished fifth seven hundredths of a second off a medal at the World Championships last month a year after placing tenth on debut.
At the 2011 World Championships before Fearon, Bruce Tasker and Stuart Benson came together under pilot John Jackson, Britain ranked 22nd while at the Vancouver 2010 Olympics they were 17th.
And, with the Sochi 2014 Olympics fast approaching, Fearon admits the British quartet are going to have to find new ways of avoiding their rivals until the World Cup season restarts later this year.
“We do sometimes cross paths with the other nations over the summer but they are more intrigued by what we are doing right now, they want to know how we have improved so much,” said Fearon.
“It’s come fast but it’s been such a good and enjoyable year so I’m glad the Games are so close as we’re in such a great place at the moment.
“We’ve only been a team for the last year or so, so as long as we can make the improvements we made last year then I am very confident in what we can do.
“We just need more practice I think. We all have our own things that we’re good at as we come from all different backgrounds.
“The World championships, we didn’t start off in the best place in 13th place but what my driver did gives me so much confidence as to what we can do as a team, so it’s very encouraging.
“Competition is always alive and I think the better we do the more hard work we are making for ourselves really but that’s in the nature of being a sportsman and I love it.
“We know we can do better but we’ll see as we get closer to the Olympics but we’re still enjoying what we do. We’re all very close; the crew get on really well so there’s no pressure yet.”
© Sportsbeat 2013