British bobsleigh history as Brad Hall and Greg Cackett claim two-man silver
Great Britain bobsleigh history was made on Saturday as unfunded duo Brad Hall and Greg Cackett secured a first World Cup 2-man medal with silver in Igls, Austria.
Pilot Hall and brakeman Cackett, racing in just their third ever 2-man race together, finished behind defending champion Francesco Friedrich and brakeman Thorsten Margis, of Germany.
It represented Great Britain's best 2-man finish in the sport's top-tier World Cup competition since official records began and a first World Cup bobsleigh medal for a British duo since Nicola Minichiello and Gillian Cooke won silver in the women's competition in Jan 2009. The result also came seven days after Hall and Cackett - the latter only recently back sliding after switching to cycling following the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang - missed the podium in La Plagne, France by just 18 hundredths of a second. At the time, that fourth-place finish was Britain's best result this millennium.
The duo, like the entire British team, are self-funded after the national governing body lost UK Sport backing for the 2022 Olympics cycle following disappointing performances in PyeongChang.
“It’s an absolutely incredible feeling. If you told us last week that we were going to finish in the top six two weeks in a row, let alone fourth and second, we wouldn’t have believed you,” said Hall, after he and Cackett moved up a place following their first run to finish second in an overall time of 1 mi 44.61 sec, which left them 0.74 sec behind the winners.
"These last two weeks have been really tough - me and Greg have been feeling under the weather - but we managed to pull out two consistent runs and to be stood on the podium with a silver medal around our necks is really, really special. To be rewriting history at this stage in our careers is amazing."
The medal is the pair's second on the World Cup circuit with Hall having piloted Cackett and 2014 Olympic bronze medallists Joel Fearon and Bruce Tasker to 4-man bronze in Park City in Nov 2017.
Hall, the 29-year-old former decathlete, has now clocked personal bests in his last six two-man races while he finished joint fourth at the 2019 World Championships alongside Nick Gleeson, Britain’s best two-man result for 53 years.
This year's World Championships take place in Altenberg, Germany from Feb 21 to Mar 1.
