Post by Taxigirl on Feb 17, 2004 11:10:06 GMT
By Anna Thompson
Winter sports editor
Britain has never boasted a male winter sports world champion before.
But now it can after Kristan Bromley clinched the bob skeleton World Cup title in Germany.
He has been in phenomenal form this season, winning four of the five events.
He said after winning the world crown on Sunday: "I'm extremely pleased, absolutely over the moon. It's really quite surreal.
"It's an amazing feeling to win the title overall.
"An eighth place in the final event would have been enough, but my strategy was to go out and win.
"My training runs were consistently fast, and I felt strong, so I had a good feeling about it."
Bromley first got into the sport, where sliders hurtle head-first down a bobsleigh track at speeds of up to 85mph, while working for British Aerospace 10 years ago.
The British Bob Skeleton Association had commissioned Bromley to design and revolutionise the sleds they used and he duly obliged and got hooked on the sport in the process.
Bromley, from Rossendale in Lancashire, earned the nickname Dr Ice and gave up his job at British Aerospace to compete on the World Cup tour.
And one of the sleds he designed, made of sprung steel and fibreglass, was used by Alex Coomber when she won a bronze medal in the 2002 Winter Olympics.
Both Coomber's and Bromley's achievements are even more remarkable because of the fact there are no bobsleigh tracks in Britain for the skeleton sliders to train on.
Instead they have to make do with a specially-constructed short start track at the University of Bath.
Bromley works as a research officer at Bath University
In between competing and training, 31-year-old Bromley works as a research officer the university's department of engineering and applied science.
But his main aim over the next couple of years will be a top performance in the Winter Olympics in Turin.
Bromley did take part in the 2002 Games in Salt Lake City but a poor first run put paid to any medal chances and he finished 13th.
Of his medal prospects in two years' time, Bromley told BBC Sport: "We are going to be competing for the next three years and hopefully we can at least grab some of the results that we have got this season.
"Our aim is for Torino and to do the best that we can there.
"These are all stepping stones in trying to realise our potential in the sport.
"I don't think we are actually there yet."
Simon Timson, performance director of the British Bob Skeleton Association, heaped praise on Bromley.
He said: "Kristan is the Michael Schumacher of the skeleton world.
"His performance has been absolutely phenomenal.
"It is a story about never giving up, of great attention to detail, and of being better prepared than any other athlete taking part.
"Our challenge now is to sustain that to the 2006 Winter Olympics."