There is nothing like travelling the world with your best friends, but competing at the Olympics together might be the cherry on top of the skeleton shaped cake.
Tabitha Stoecker, Amelia Coltman and Freya Tarbit have formed a bond like no other in recent years as they all pushed towards the same sporting goal.
From fantasy book clubs and summer holidays to pushing each other on during training, it has been the key to their combined success, with all three roaring to World Cup victories in the past two seasons.
And after Team GB missed out on a medal four years ago at Beijing 2022, the three amigos of the skeleton track are here to shine in Cortina.
“We’re so fortunate,” said Tarbit. “[Amelia] Mills and Tabby are my best friends. We’ve been on holiday together in the summer, so we spend all of our time together throughout the winter and then we chose to be together in the summer.
“It makes such a difference. Skeleton is an amazing sport but it’s a tough sport and it is tough being away from friends and family for so long.
“Having team-mates that understand it but are also your closest friends as well, you can talk about anything and switch off. We are so fortunate that we get that.”
“It feels magical,” added Coltman. “I don’t envisage that that many athletes can say that. It is something that we have, it is so strong and it sets us apart from all the other nations.
“Not just the girls, the boys as well, we are all really close friends.”
Team GB’s skeleton girl group take to the ice on Friday for their first two runs of competition, with two of them back in action for the mixed team event later down the line – though who those two are we are yet to find out.
Training runs have already taken place in Cortina, with the opportunity to get a feel for the track and brush off those competition cobwebs before the actual scored runs get underway. And it’s been looking good.
In fact, Stoecker was in the top three on all six of her runs, even leading the way on the first and third.
Coltman also snuck up the rankings after a slower start to training, with Tarbit consistently around the top 10 mark, slipping down after a roaring first two runs.
All three are set to perform on their maiden Olympics, but it’s clear the Stoecker is the frontrunner of the three as it stands.
The Londoner became the first British woman to win a World Cup overall skeleton medal in 11 years with a third place finish this season, clinching a bronze and two silvers in the individual event.
Coming into the Games, it means that the pressure is being piled on Stoecker as a medal hope.
But she is embracing it, knowing that the medal hopes are there because she deserves them.
“It feels like such a privilege to have a bit of external pressure now,” she said.
“That feels really special that people are recognising that I have been performing really well.
“The internal pressure is that I just want to come away feeling proud and like I’ve done my very best. Knowing that my very best has been enough to win medals.
“Hopefully everything goes well and I will be able to come away with a result that makes me scream with happiness.”
Sportsbeat 2026
