A Stoke-on-Trent local will be representing Team GB at the Winter Olympics.

Two-time summer Olympian, Ashleigh Nelson, will be competing in the two-women bobsleigh event at Milano Cortina 2026.

Nelson, previously appeared at Beijing 2008 and Tokyo 2020 as a sprinter, before switching to bobsleigh in the 2024/25 off season.

Team GB explained that this makes her second British woman to compete at both a Summer and Winter Olympics, after Montell Douglas.

An Instagram message from fellow bobsleigh athlete and athletics convert, Adele Nicoll, encouraged Nelson to switch events.

The pair then teamed up at the 2025 World Championships and will now do so again at this year's Winter Olympics.

Nelson told Team GB: "I never thought that I would change sport let alone be in the run up to go to an Olympic Games.

"I didn't even think that I would be doing anything, I thought I'd be working in an office. I had no idea what was around the corner.

advertisement

"I can't believe I am still lucky enough to say that this is my job and I can't believe I am still at the top.

"The older you get, the more you realise you have one plan but it might turn out another way.

"Before I came to bobsleigh, I thought I was just a sprinter. Doing this has reminded me that actually I can do anything I want, whether that's bobsleigh or going back to school to study. It was really given me that belief."

Nelson will turn 35 on the day of the pair's first race in the two-woman competition in Cortina (20 February).

Nelson added: "To be a woman, a woman of colour and a woman of a certain age – on race day I will be 35 – I am really passionate about challenging the norms within sport.

"If my story can inspire other women to go forth and prosper then I am here for it. It's an exciting story and sometimes I can't quite believe it's me who is doing it."

Read more about Ashleigh Nelson on the Team GB website here.