Mica McNeill
Mica McNeill (born 25 September 1993)[1] is a British bobsledder. She won a silver medal at the 2012 Youth Olympics in Innsbruck, Austria, and she competed at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea.
Mica McNeill in Altenberg in 2019 | |||||||||||||||||
Personal information | |||||||||||||||||
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Citizenship | British | ||||||||||||||||
Born | Consett, County Durham, England | 25 September 1993||||||||||||||||
Years active | 2010– | ||||||||||||||||
Sport | |||||||||||||||||
Sport | Bobsleigh | ||||||||||||||||
Achievements and titles | |||||||||||||||||
Olympic finals | 2018 | ||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Career
McNeill is from Consett, County Durham, England.[2][3] She joined the British Bobsleigh programme in 2010, and competed at the 2012 Winter Youth Olympics in Innsbruck, Austria.[4] Competing alongside Jazmin Sawyers, she won a silver medal in the 2-girls bobsleigh event.[5] She has competed in the 2-women bobsleigh event at three Bobsleigh World Championships. In 2013, McNeill and Nikki McSweeney came 20th,[6] in 2015, McNeill and Aleasha Kiddle came 14th,[7] and in 2016, McNeill and Natalie Deratt came 12th.[8]
In January 2017, McNeill and Mica Moore won the 2-women event at the 2017 IBSF Junior Bobsleigh World Championships in Winterberg, Germany.[9][10] Later in the year, the British Bobsleigh and Skeleton Association withdrew funding for McNeill and Moore, after deciding to maintain funding only for the British male bobsleigh teams. The pair then managed to crowdfund £30,000, allowing them to compete in the 2017–18 Bobsleigh World Cup events. The money was needed to pay for travel between races for the pair of them, transport of the sled, race fees, insurance and possible medical expenses, among other things, and allowed them to concentrate on trying to win races.[2] BY January 2018, McNeill and Moore had raised over £41,000 to fund their competitions.[3] The pair have the slogan "Powered By The People" written on their sled.[11] McNeill and Moore finished fifth in the 2-women bobsleigh event in Whistler, Canada, which was the best result for a British women's team in the Bobsleigh World Cup for 8 years.[11][12] In January 2018, McNeill was selected as the pilot for the British 2-women bobsleigh team at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang. Moore was selected as the brakewoman for the team.[13] Their result of 8th was the best ever by a British women's Olympic bobsleigh team.[14]
References
- "Winter Olympics 2018: Great Britain's team for Pyeongchang". BBC Sport. 25 January 2018. Archived from the original on 6 December 2017. Retrieved 29 January 2018.
- "Mica McNeill says British bobsleighers 'powered by the people'". BBC Sport. 25 September 2017. Archived from the original on 21 December 2017. Retrieved 23 January 2018.
- "PATH TO PYEONGCHANG: County Durham bobsleigh driver Mica McNeill hails 'people power' after Winter Olympic place is confirmed". The Northern Echo. 23 January 2018. Archived from the original on 24 January 2018. Retrieved 23 January 2018.
- "Mica NcNeill". British Bobsleigh and Skeleton Association. Archived from the original on 5 July 2017. Retrieved 23 January 2018.
- "Winter Youth Olympic Games in Innsbruck: Bobsleigh gold to the Netherlands and Italy, first Olympic medal for Monaco". International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation. 22 January 2012. Archived from the original on 24 January 2018. Retrieved 23 January 2018.
- "World Championship: Saint Moritz". International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation. 25 January 2013. Archived from the original on 24 January 2018. Retrieved 23 January 2018.
- "World Championship: Winterberg". International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation. 26 February 2015. Archived from the original on 24 January 2018. Retrieved 23 January 2018.
- "World Championship: Innsbruck". International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation. 12 February 2016. Archived from the original on 24 January 2018. Retrieved 23 January 2018.
- "Mica Moore: Welsh bobsleigher hopes to reach Olympics despite funding cut". BBC Sport. 20 September 2017. Archived from the original on 22 November 2017. Retrieved 23 January 2018.
- "IBSF Junior World Championship Bobsleigh" (PDF). International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation. 28 January 2017. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2 February 2017. Retrieved 23 January 2018.
- Bloom, Ben (23 January 2018). "Winter Olympics 2018: British bobsleigh women crowdfund their way to Korea". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 27 January 2018. Retrieved 27 January 2018.
- Hope, Nick (25 November 2017). "Bobsleigh World Cup: Mica McNeill and Mica Moore fifth in Whistler". BBC Sport. Archived from the original on 21 December 2017. Retrieved 23 January 2018.
- "Winter Olympics 2018: Mica McNeill and Mica Moore named in GB team". BBC Sport. 23 January 2018. Archived from the original on 23 January 2018. Retrieved 23 January 2018.
- "Winter Olympics: GB's bobsleigh women hope for funding after finishing eighth". BBC News. 21 February 2018. Retrieved 21 February 2018.