Olympic build-up: Team GB bobsledders set for key season ahead of Milano-Cortina
Great Britain's top four-man bobsleigh team have their eyes firmly set on a medal at February's Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics - and for this quartet that's not an unrealistic ambition.
The team, which includes Royal Marines Commando Lance Corporal Taylor Lawrence as brakeman, have been on a steady rise since their disappointing sixth-place finish at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.
Now having won medals at various World Cups, European Championships and most recently a bronze at the 2025 World Championships, this is a team that is taking the fight to the dominant German bobsleds of reigning Olympic champion Francesco Friedrich and his fellow countryman Johannes Lochner.
Speaking to BFBS Sport at their base at the University of Bath, LCpl Lawrence is optimistic that the team can put right what went wrong at the last Olympics in Beijing.
He said: "Every season is really important, and every time we go out and compete, we want to improve on the seasons we've had before.
"Obviously this is the big one, this is the Olympic year, and it does feel that each year you build up to this sort of pinnacle of a sportsman's career.
"Hopefully this season we can go out and do the business and do what we didn't do in Beijing."
The team are led by two-time Olympian Brad Hall, who is the pilot that has driven the team to their many successes throughout this Olympic cycle.
Hall is expected to lead the team which includes LCpl Lawrence as well Greg Cackett and Leon Greenwood into next year's Olympic Games, and their first test will come this weekend when they will do their first competitive run down the Olympic track in Cortina d'Ampezzo.
He said: "The first World Cup race is actually the Olympic test event in Cortina, so we've never slid that track before and the holomogation was only in April, so a very few amount of people have actually been down there.
"So we've got to learn the new track and hopefully we can find the fastest lines down there quicker than anyone else and hopefully that will give us a bit of an advantage."
Two reserve athletes for Team Hall come from within military circles.
Paratrooper Private Olly Butterworth and Royal Air Force aircraft technician Corporal Alex Cartagena competed in Britain's GB2 sled last season, and have now been brought into Team Hall as reserve athletes.
They are set to compete in some World Cups with Brad Hall this season, in order to gain experience in case they need to step in at a moment's notice.
Pte Butterworth said: "For me, it would be my first Olympics, so it's sort of trying to enjoy the season still and not big it up too much, it is just another race.
"But the second you have those [Olympic] rings above you, it all goes wild and it's all very different, so it's just trying to enjoy it, enjoy every race and try and get bettered better and earn a spot in that sled."
Cpl Cartagena added: "I've had seven months to be prepared and see if I could do it, and if there is anything to go off, things are looking promising for everybody.
"But yes, I've got to be ready at any point, even as a reserve or a sliding athlete, because you never know what's going to happen."
Great Britain have a second sled, which is now led by paratrooper and two-time Olympian Lance Corporal Nick Gleeson.
The GB2 sled, which is self-funded, is set to compete at the Europa Cup, with the possibility of competing in the World Cups later in the season if performance warrants it.
LCpl Gleeson says that even-though the chances are slim, qualifying for the 2026 Olympics is still the main target.
He said: "I'm really excited, the guys have been working super hard this summer and we've been raising the funds because we're a self-funded team.
"Going into the season, we've got competitions ahead of us, a full racing calendar, so we're really looking forward to seeing what we can achieve.
"We've got a first race in North America, out in Canada in Whistler, so we'll go and compete there first. Then we come back to Europe and we join the Europa Cup circuit.
"Depending on performance, potentially e could go onto a World Cup if performance warrants it, but until then we don't know.
"So we'll try our best at every single event to give ourselves the best opportunity we can, and beyond that, if that happens or not, there's more races after Christmas and then the ultimate goal is the 2026 Olympics, where there's still a hope that we can qualify and compete there."
Brad Hall's GB1 sled will begin their season at the IBSF World Cup in Cortina from 21-23 November, and LCpl Nick Gleeson's GB2 sled will begin their Europa Cup campaign in Lillehammer from 24 November.
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