26/12/2017 Path to Pyeongchang

It takes a special kind of athlete

to succeed at the Winter Olympics.

Traditionally, British success has

been sporadic at best.

But in recent years, Team GB has

finally joined the party.

Lizzie Yarnold is

the Olympic champion!

There were four GB medals

during Sochi 2014.

That could be upgraded

to a record haul of five.

British athletes are winning

more major medals now

than at any point in history.

There is every chance that

PyeongChang 2018 in South Korea

could be Great Britain's best ever

Games.

One of Britain's best medal

prospects is Elise Christie,

competing in three events.

Since the last Games,

she has become a world champion.

She is looking to put her Olympic

demons firmly behind her

after a devastating Sochi 2014.

Oh, they've gone down,

they've all gone down!

I can't believe it!

Christie's been penalised again.

It's been tough.

I can't even describe

how hard it was.

I suffered a lot after it,

in my normal life too.

I had a crash at the games.

I received a lot of death

threats and online abuse

from the South Koreans.

It changed me as a person.

You know, I lost a lot

of confidence from it.

But since then I have actually had

a massive turnaround.

Christie, the first British woman

to win a short track World Title!

People became fans and they were

really sorry for how

people had treated me.

And actually the majority of

the South Koreans really support me.

I think it's nice to see how much

I've moved forward since then.

I'm a totally different skater.

I've developed so much.

I don't know how I'll survive if it

happens again and I have a terrible

Olympics and I mess it up.

When I go to the Olympics,

I'm hoping to win a gold medal.

I definitely want it

more than anything else.

But at the same time,

part of me does need it,

just with what happened in Sochi

and to get redemption

for what mistakes I made.

If I won a gold, it would be

incredible, indescribable.

The British bobsleigh four-man

team finished fifth,

an agonising 0.11 seconds

from the medals at Sochi 2014.

But they are in line

for an upgrade to bronze

following the disqualification

of two Russians for doping offences.

Corruption on an

unprecedented scale.

1,000 Russian athletes

are accused of doping.

The Russian government

organised and directed

a sophisticated doping programme.

From London 2012 through to

Sochi 2014 and beyond.

Great Britain look set to win

a bobsleigh bronze medal,

the IOC banned three more Russian

athletes for doping.

We had our moment stolen, basically.

I feel like we fought so hard,

knowing we were good enough

to get on the podium.

It's hard to take.

As we're seeing across all sports

in the world right now, this

is happening all too frequently.

It's a really sad state.

It would have been a massive family

achievement, more than anything.

There's no escaping that,

it would have been different.

The funding would have

been much higher.

Obviously, the personal

reward of it.

Potentially, though,

there would have been opportunities

for us to further our careers.

We did come third but until

we've got the medal...

How much would you like it to be

resolved by PyeongChang?

One of the things that is mentioned

is, how do you feel about your

moment being stolen away from you?

In some cases, that could be

corrected by being presented

with a medal in the PyeongChang.

Silver for Great Britain.

Bronze last week.

You have another chance to do it

at the Games themselves.

The team is going in

the right direction?

It is.

Previously there had been one

competitive team, now there is two.

The possibilities are

huge for this team.

We are going to get a podium.

The British four-man team

from Sochi 2014 should learn

whether they will receive

a retrospective bronze

medal by late January.

Sliding sports won't enter

the Winter Paralympics

until Beijing 2022.

But for PyeongChang 2018, Britain

possess some medal prospects.

Here are some of the ones to watch.

Like Britain's wheelchair curlers,

the GB Olympic curlers have enjoyed

plenty of medal success at recent

Games.

The women won bronze and the men

silver at Sochi 2014,

and both collected European honours

in the last few months, suggesting

that they are in career-best form.

And both teams will be boosted

by the presence of Muirheads.

Eve will skip the women's team,

whilst her older and younger

brothers will line up

for the Team GB men.

Competing alongside my brothers will

make it exciting and extra special.

It's not every day you can compete

at the Olympic Games alongside two

of your brothers with Great Britain

on your back and family watching

and that makes it really exciting.

I guess there is a little

bit of added pressure,

having been medallists before,

you kind of have that podium

to kind of step up to.

But there's nothing stopping us

being as good as we were last time,

if not even better.

The Winter Olympics have been

revitalised by freestyle skiing

and snowboarding events

in the 21st century.

And at the last Games,

Great Britain claimed a first-ever

Winter Olympic medal on the snow,

with Jenny Jones

claiming a bronze medal.

Although she isn't competing any

more, there's still plenty

to be excited about.

Ski Sunday's Ed Leigh has more.

I've spent more than a quarter

of the century reporting on winter

sport, and I can say hand on heart,

going into PyeongChang,

Britain has never had

so many medal contenders.

The first one you have to talk

about is Katie Ormerod,

she just missed out on Sochi four

years ago, and in the period

since she has established herself

as one of the best slopestyle riders

on the female tour.

The next rider you have to talk

about is Billie Morgan,

the first man to land the hallowed

trick in snowboarding right now,

Billy is another serious contender.

Jamie Nicholls is my dark horse.

He is pound for pound

one of the best rail

riders in the world,

and has been working

hard on his jump tricks.

He is now a brilliant

all-round rider.

He could be a serious

hope for a medal.

We can't forget about the skiers.

There is no shortage of talent

in that corner either.

James Woods is top of the list.

Fifth in Sochi whilst

carrying a hip injury,

the last 12 months have been

a brilliant build-up to the Games.

He has had World Cup goals.

Izzie Atkin is an ex-American skier

who claimed third in slopestyle

at the World Championships.

Katie Summerhays has

bagged a silver.

I'm very excited about Team GB's

prospects in PyeongChang.

So, there's certainly

plenty of medal potential

from a freestyle perspective.

Next, we take a look

at the other prospects

on the path to PyeongChang.

Britain has struggled

in Alpine skiing for decades,

but slalom specialist Dave Riding

now has World Cup

success to his name.

Zoe Gillings Brier will be competing

in her fourth Olympics,

the first as a mother.

She gave birth to her daughter,

Leah, in 2016, and is already

training her for a future

in the sport.

Ice dancers Penny Combs

and Nick Buckland and have been one

of sport's most unlucky

in recent years.

Buckland needed heart surgery before

the last Olympics, and Combs

shattered her knee in 2016.

But they are back on the up.

Andrew Musgrave is on top

of his game, and competes at one

of the Olympics' toughest

events, cross-country skiing.

The British bobsleigh women's team

had all of their financial support

pulled months before the game.

But a crowdfunding campaign saw

them raise over £40,000.

Also keep an eye out

for this skeleton athlete.

Laura Dees.

She has won World Cup honours

in recent years and will be

looking to make an impact

on her Olympic debut.

Britain's leading slider

remains Lizzie Yarnold,

the Olympic champion from Sochi

2014, who has taken a one year

career break since the last Games.

She has returned refreshed,

but has struggled to find

the consistency of old.

Lizzie Yarnold is

the Olympic champion!

Oh, my goodness!

Since I was a little kid I always

wanted to go to the Olympics.

To say I am an Olympian

and a gold-medallist,

it's mind blowing.

I think after Sochi,

there was this niggling feeling that

I hadn't been World Cup champion,

I hadn't been world champion

or European champion.

My mind skipped immediately to that.

To be able to achieve all four

titles within two seasons,

407 days, was awesome.

But I was so exhausted.

So I'm really glad that

I did take that time off.

Training was a lot harder

than I had remembered.

It's just constant.

Everything we do is in a basement

of a gym, just lifting weights,

trying to get stronger,

trying to get faster.

I think the past 18 months have

been very up and down.

Lizzie Yarnold takes

the bronze medal!

She's way back in tenth,

11th spot, I'm surprised!

The Olympic champion may struggle

to get a second heat after that run.

At the moment, my results are not

where I want them to be.

I'll believe in myself

and have confidence.

The goal of trying to become

the first British Winter Olympian

to retain my title is so motivating.

That's what gets me out

of bed every morning.

As you've been seeing,

we have more medal prospect

for Great Britain in winter sports

than at any point in history.

There is every chance that

PyeongChang 2018 could be

record-breaking game

for Great Britain.