McNeill and Moore had to rely on a crowd-funding appeal to ensure they could compete in South Korea
Wednesday 21 February 2018 18:27, UK
Mica McNeill is already targeting the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing after she and bobsleigh partner Mica Moore overcame the withdrawal of their funding to record a best finish by a women’s bobsleigh team in Pyeongchang.
A crucial mistake saw McNeill and Moore slip from sixth place to eighth but that was still enough to see them surpass the ninth-place finish achieved by Nicola Minichiello and Jackie Davies in Turin in 2006.
Their achievement was made all the more remarkable by the fact they had to rely on crowdfunding to ensure they could compete in South Korea after the British Bobsleigh and Skeleton Association decided not to fund the women's teams to instead focus on three men's teams considered more likely to deliver medals.
"A lot of people might have thought we were mad - when our funding was cut it was a really heartbreaking and stressful time but we knew we deserved to come here and make history," said McNeill.
"I hope we have shown that we can challenge in the future and that we are deserving of funding. We want to win a medal in Beijing and it would be great not to be powered by the people, and have UK Sport help us out."
McNeill and Moore were sixth after the opening two runs on Wednesday, just 0.46 seconds behind the eventual winners Mariama Jamanka and Lisa Buckwitz of Germany.
A mistake on their third run cost them the chance of potentially challenging for a bronze medal but McNeill has already turned her attention to the next Winter Olympics in China.
"My inexperience on this track told a bit in the end," added McNeill. "I put two great runs together to get in the medal mix but today I let it run into the eighth and caught the roof.
"I've got four years to improve my consistency as a driver. If you think about four years it is such a long time and I think we can be going to Beijing and challenging for medals."
