Britain ‘pushing the boundaries’ of technology to keep skeleton medal run going

British skeleton stars are banking on more top-secret innovations in Beijing to help them maintain a medal-winning streak that stretches back to the reintroduction of the sport into the Olympic programme in 2002.

Skeleton has yielded seven medals over the past five Games, including three in Pyeongchang in 2018, as the team banks on technological advances in order to mitigate the disadvantage of its minimal access to ice.

Aerodynamic skin-suits were credited with helping Lizzy Yarnold retain her women’s title four years ago, and perhaps more notably with lifting Laura Deas and Dom Parsons – ranked seventh and 12th respectively on their World Cup circuits – into bronze medal positions.

British Skeleton performance director Natalie Dunman has revealed further surprises concerning the sleds and race-suits used by the four-strong British team are in store in Beijing, with the full extent kept strictly under wraps until the opening race day on February 10.

Dunman said: “We are constantly trying to push the boundaries and edges of what we’re doing. Mainly we’re looking and sleds and suits, and we always keep a little surprise in store.

“It’s small innovations – it’s not something you’re going to say, ‘oh my God, it’s completely different’, because you’ve got to follow the rules. But they are things that we hope will make a difference.”

Britain has been at the forefront of innovation in the sport since it was reintroduced to the programme in 2002. World champion Kristan Bromley is a pioneer in sled design and helped produce the sled that swept Alex Coomber to bronze in Salt Lake City.

In 2010, the US team protested about a spoiler on the back of Amy Williams’ helmet midway through her surprise surge to gold in Vancouver,