When Ashleigh Nelson missed out on a place at Paris 2024, she thought her Olympic days were over. But then came an Instagram post that changed the Stoke sprinter’s sporting life.
The sender was Adele Nicoll, the two-time British shot put champion turned bobsledder, who asked her fellow track and field athlete: ‘Would you consider coming to bobsleigh?’
Nelson immediately replied with four laughing emojis and six months later she’s still chuckling. Only she is now a full member of the Great Britain bobsleigh team and aims to become the second British woman after Montell Douglas to be selected for both the Summer and Winter Olympics in different sports.
“I keep giggling because I’m thinking, ‘How did I get here?'” the 33-year-old tells Mail Sport from St. Moritz in Switzerland, where the last World Cup bobsleigh event was held this weekend.
‘It all happened so quickly. But I will give absolutely everything and if I make it to the Olympics I will be absolutely ecstatic. It would mean a lot to me.
‘Apart from Montell, no one else has done it from a British female perspective. So I would love to go down in the history books.’
Ashleigh Nelson missed out on a place at Paris 2024 but hasn’t looked back since
In athletics, Nelson won medals in the 4×100 meters relay at world, European and Commonwealth levels
The 33-year-old is now part of the bobsleigh team and has his sights set on the 2026 Winter Olympics
In athletics, Nelson won medals in the 4×100 meters relay at world, European and Commonwealth levels. She was also the first British woman in forty years to win an individual European medal in the 100 meters when she claimed bronze in 2014.
Nelson was just 17 when she was selected as a member of the relay team for her first Olympic Games in Beijing 2008, along with her older brother Alex. She also earned selection for Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020.
But when ankle surgery last year ended her hopes of reaching the fourth Summer Games, she resigned herself to a life away from top sport.
“When I had the operation in August 2023, I knew it would be difficult to come back, but I made peace with it,” emphasizes Nelson, whose cousin Curtis Nelson is a defender at Derby County. ‘I let it rest a bit and said: ‘If I never participate in an Olympic Games again, I’ll actually be happy with all the effort I put in.’
“When I didn’t make it to Paris, I thought, ‘Okay, I have to decide whether we continue with athletics, try to go to the World Championships next year, or if that’s the end.’
“And just as I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do, Adele came into my DMs!”
In that message last July, Nicoll told Nelson that her speed, strength and power were perfectly suited to pushing a sled. Nicoll saw similarities between the 6ft 2in Nelson and the 6ft 2in Douglas, the former sprinter and now Gladiators and Strictly Come Dancing star, who competed in the two-woman bobsled in Beijing 2022.
“I followed Adele on Instagram because she’s also an athlete, we have mutual friends and I’ve liked some of her posts over time,” Nelson explains. ‘Adele and Montell were brakewomen together and I’m built the same way as Montell, so she probably thought, ‘She looks like she’d fit in.’
Nelson’s move came after a conversation with Adele Nicoll (pictured), the two-time British shot put champion turned bobsledder
She was selected for Beijing 2008, Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020 before last year’s disappointment
‘When she messaged I just laughed because it was like, “Oh god, what am I going to get myself into now?”. A few weeks later I went to the push track in Bath to give it a try.
‘The first few times I went down, I called my mom and said, ‘I don’t know if this is for me.’ Then I did it a few more times and I was like, “No, this is for me.”
“As much as I love athletics, and I still do, after a while you can lose that buzz. But bobsled has just given me a whole new lease on life and a whole new excitement about being an athlete.
“There is also an element of danger that athletics doesn’t involve. It gives you that extra bit of adrenaline. You’ll be going down some descents at 80 to 90 miles per hour, which is quite terrifying. But if you’re an athlete and you’re looking for a bit of thrill, it’s quite exciting.’
Nelson was officially selected for the British team before Christmas, just two months after her first run on ice. She is currently the reserve brakewoman for 20-year-old Kya Placide, but last weekend she made her debut with pilot Nicoll at a World Cup event in Winterberg and finished 21st.
“I really enjoyed it and everyone was very impressed,” Nelson said. ‘My mother watched the race and said, “I felt sick, but it was great!”.
‘I hope to be able to do a few more races before the end of the season and then the World Championships are in March. It will be difficult to get to the spot because I have to compete against another fantastic athlete in Kya. But that also makes it exciting. I’m used to competing with Dina Asher-Smith and Daryll Neita. It’s great training with her, because iron sharpens iron.’
Asher-Smith, the former world 200m champion, is one of Nelson’s many friends from the athletics world who wish her well in her new venture.
Dina Asher-Smith is one of Nelson’s many friends from the athletics world
“She messaged me and was so supportive, then we hopped on FaceTime and she said, ‘I have a good feeling about this, Ash,’” Nelson says. “So I’m going to take Dina Asher-Smith’s good vibes and run with it!”
However, good feelings will only take Nelson so far. Although she is hopeful that she will receive low lottery funding, she will have to raise sponsorship if she wants to realize her new Olympic dream.
“As I’m learning, it’s an incredibly expensive sport,” Nelson adds. ‘We left home on December 28 and will not return home until mid-March.
‘I just found out that my clothing sponsor will no longer sponsor me next year. So I’m going to try to find a new clothing sponsor, or see if I can find someone who wants to sponsor myself or the team. Hopefully I can reach people who have seen my career, believe in me and want to help myself and two other women achieve their dreams.”