Nicoll eyes shot put glory after Olympic bobsleigh

To qualify for one major Games is impressive, to do two in the space of five months is pretty special, especially when the sports are nothing alike.

For Adele Nicoll, it is a delicate balancing act that she has done her best to master since 2020, when Mica McNeill sent her a message on Instagram encouraging her to give bobsleigh a go too.

Now the 29-year-old from Welshpool will throw in the Commonwealth Games shot put final just five months after competing for Great Britain at Milano-Cortina.

She says she is living her "nine-year-old dream" .

"Physically, they both require a lot of power and I train as a power athlete, so in that sense, it's not too difficult, they relate really well.

"But it's the lack of throws that's been really difficult for me to catch up on.

"It's the feeling of. where you are in the circle the proprioception.

"I didn't have a winter training and most of the work that you do technically is done over winter.

"I've come back and had to kind of cram in winter training in the middle of the summer competitive season, so that's the most difficult thing."

Despite those challenges and balancing life with a new throws coach, Nicoll defended her Welsh shot put title in June, a week after missing the UK Championships with injury.

"Being able to know when my body needs a rest has been the biggest challenge for me," she said

"It's accepting that the body doesn't always know what's in the calendar and the goal was to be ready for the Commonwealth Games.

Nicoll says her time in bobsleigh has made her more grateful for the things she doesn't have to do with athletics.

"In athletics we just get our kit bag and we turn up to the track, but with the bobsleigh we're driving the vans around the world.

"You race, you pack up all the equipment and you drive to the next location which could be a 24-hour journey.

"It's just you and your team-mates, you're doing all the servicing of the sleds, you're doing everything.

"Bobsleigh is basically a boot camp that makes you the most resilient hard-working. grafting athlete!

"I've come back into athletics now with that discipline and that's what I think has made me a much better track and field athlete."