Nicoll eyes Winter Olympics and Commonwealth double
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You may be familiar with the concept of sprinters on the athletics track who convert to competing in bobsleigh, but what about shot putters?
Welsh competitor Adele Nicoll is proving that field athletes can do the winter sport justice too.
However, unlike some of those sprinters who have finished their track careers and swapped them for the ice, Nicoll also retains her athletics ambitions.
It could be a very busy 2026 for the three-time British shot put champion as the 29-year-old prepares for her Winter Olympics debut in Milan-Cortina on Sunday, 15 February and then possibly the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow this summer.
Nicoll's immediate focus is firmly on bobsleigh, but making a mark in the 2026 Games for Wales is at the back of her mind.
"I would love to put the Welsh vest on and compete at the Commonwealth Games," said Nicoll.
"I genuinely think I'm able to, we'll just have to see what my plans for post Milan-Cortina are like.
"I'll never say no, will I?"
Nicoll has had to be very patient for her opportunity to become a fully fledged Olympian.
She travelled to Beijing in 2022 as the alternate in the women's two-woman event for British pair Mica McNeill and Montell Douglas who finished 17th.
Nicoll says the experience was a "scary position" to be in.
"There was no guarantee I was ever going to earn that Olympian title," she told BBC Sport Wales.
"There was a little part of me that always truly believed it was going to happen and here we are, four years of absolute graft and I'm really proud I got through that time."
Following the Games in 2022, Nicoll made the transition to pilot the sled, a move that sees her not only drive for the two-woman team but also become the first British woman to compete in the monobob at the Winter Olympics.
She has pointed to her athletics background as being useful in her development on the ice.
"I believe years of technical analysis from throwing events where you have to be precise and break it down and having a very good eye for looking at minute detail has definitely help me with learning how to drive.
"I've become an Olympic pilot within one Olympic cycle."
The bobsleigh season did not initially go to plan for Nicoll with a serious knee injury derailing her early preparations.
"Starting the season off with a serious injury is never how anyone wants to start off their Olympic campaign, but I'm really proud of how we pulled through that," she added.
"The Olympic deadline wasn't going to wait for anyone. It's been such a battle and we've been fighting our hearts out every single week.
"The fitness has grown throughout the season and we managed to finish with four podiums out of four at the Europa Cup to put us into a really strong position heading into the Games."
Putting Welshpool on the map
Nicoll is from Welshpool, a market town in Powys with a population of around 7,000 people.
And she says she is thrilled to put the spotlight on her hometown.
"Welshpool has such a special place in my heart," she said.
"I will never forget where I come from, I am so happy to tell everybody where I come from.
"I'm taking my Welsh heritage with me there and putting Wales on the map which is really important to me.
"I love that I come from really humble beginnings, I just hope that I'm inspiring the next generation of children growing up in Welshpool to see there's such a big world out there."
Glasgow 2026 ambitions
With another Commonwealth Games on the horizon, Nicoll is confident she can transition successfully back from winter to summer sporting pursuits.
With British shot put titles in 2022, 2023 and 2025, Nicoll will seek to take that form onto a bigger stage as she looks to improve on her eighth place finish in Birmingham in 2022.
"In the last few years I've shown that I can go away for the winter and come back," said Nicoll.
"Bobsleigh gets you in phenomenal shape, even if you don't want to do sport, if you train like a bobsledder, you'll be the fittest you've ever been in your life."
Nicoll says she transformed herself as an athlete - losing 20kg of bodyweight - developing the strength and speed to move the 175kg bobsleigh.
"I'm the strongest, the fastest and also the most mentally resilient I've been because lifting bobsleighs in -20 degrees is not fun," she explained.
"Pushing through those moments, it is a phenomenal sport and it has happened to complement athletics very well.
"It will involve sensible decisions, strategy and prioritisation, if I can keep up with shot put alongside it then fantastic.
"Bobsleigh has very quickly become my priority and I've got more ambitions than Milan-Cortina, I want to go on and win Olympic medals."
