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How an Instagram post led to a place in the Great Britain bobsleigh squad for Maidstone woman Poppy Dinley

Poppy Dinley finds herself in the Great Britain bobsleigh squad - after responding to an Instagram post.

Dinley had never tried the sport before but was drawn to a post advertising trials at Bath University and decided to have a go.

Poppy Dinley has been selected for the Europa Cup.
Poppy Dinley has been selected for the Europa Cup.

It proved a good move by the 22-year-old, from Maidstone, who earned selection for the Europa Cup as reserve brakeman.

She’s in Austria this week hoping for a chance to compete.

“I literally saw a post on Instagram, asking for people to come down and trial, so I did and I was successful,” said Dinley.

“I’ve done weightlifting and track and field, which I think helped.

“The sleds aren’t light. You have to be able to get them moving and you have to be able to run quite quickly, so my background was probably good for that.

“It’s a push-start track at Bath - obviously not a proper ice track - and they use a metal frame to mimic the bobsleigh.

“I tried for skeleton last summer but wasn’t successful.

Poppy Dinley in training at Bath.
Poppy Dinley in training at Bath.

“I was still interested in sliding and that sort of area of sport, so I thought I’d give bobsleigh a go and, luckily, it’s worked out.

“The Winter Olympics is the goal for most people on the programme but, being a novice, you don’t know. I’ll just see where it leads.”

Europa Cup rounds take place at various venues while Dinley has a training camp at Swiss resort St Moritz to look forward to in February.

She’d been due to attend a development camp at Lake Placid in America in January but that’s been cancelled.

“The pilot I was due to go with has secured some practice time at St Moritz in February,” said Dinley.

“That’s exciting and makes up for Lake Placid being cancelled.”

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