Marcus Wyatt is bidding to prove there is more to Team GB’s skeleton success than girl power at the Winter Olympics in Beijing next month.

The 29-year-old from Honiton narrowly missed out on selection for PyeongChang in 2018 but it has now been officially announced that he has booked his spot on the plane to China.

And after watching on as British women medalled in five consecutive Games for the all-conquering skeleton squad, Wyatt is hoping to follow in the footsteps of Dom Parsons, who won the first male skeleton medal in over 70 years when he took bronze in South Korea.

“It would be a huge dream come true [to win gold], that’s what I’m aiming for,” said Wyatt, who is one of over 1,000 athletes who are able to train full-time, access the world’s best coaches and benefit from pioneering technology, science and medical support thanks to vital National Lottery funding.

“We’ve been so lucky in the fact that Lizzy [Yarnold], Laura [Deas], Dom, Amy [Williams] and everyone have been really good in staying in the programme.

“I’ve trained with Lizzy, Laura and Dom. I call them my friends and to have their experience is brilliant, it’s helped all of us massively.

“It’s a really great thing to have and to help us win a medal. If I can be that man that brings home the gold then that would be unbelievable.

“At the Olympics, any medal is a huge success, if you offered me a bronze, I’d absolutely bite your hand off.

“The women have obviously had better results but the men have also had success, especially Dom, if I can keep that going, that’s the plan.”

Considering there is not even a skeleton track in the UK, Team GB’s success in the sport boggles the mind.

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