BROGAN Crowley has been inspired by Team GB’s successes in the skeleton bob at the Winter Olympics as she bids to compete at the 2022 Games in Beijing.
The 23-year-old from Moorside, a member of the British performance squad, is a rising star in the sport.
Having recently won the European Cup – an eight-race series – Brogan is looking to emulate Lizzie Yarnold and Laura Deas who won gold and silver in Pyeongchang, South Korea.
And with Dom Parsons capturing a bronze in the men’s skeleton bob, that sport accounted for three of Team GB’s five medals.
Brogan, who was a pupil at St Chad’s and Saddleworth School, trains full time with Yarnold, Deas and Parsons at Bath University where the skeleton bob team in based.
She said: “We were in a training camp in Konigssee, Germany, when the Winter Olympics were taking place, so we watched the successes together as a group.
“What they did in winning three skeleton bob medals – and for Lizzie to defend her Olympic title – was absolutely incredible.”
It has also been a pinch-me season for Brogan on the European Cup circuit as she proved victorious in only her second season of racing.
She explained: “I didn’t expect to win, but I had an amazing season.
“In the eight races I was never lower than fourth and won one gold, three silvers and two bronzes.”
Brogan is hoping next season to move up to the Inter Continental Cup and may be even to the United States and Canadian circuits and compete in World Cup events.
“If I get a couple of top-four finishes in the Inter Continental Cup, then technically next year I could compete in the World Cup, she explained.
Brogan, who competed for Great Britain at junior level in the heptathlon, was forced to give up that sport after having three ankle operations.
She was looking for a new sporting challenge and took up skeleton bob after the Sochi Winter Olympics in 2014 after seeing an advertisement for a Power2Podium Day.
Brogan was one of eight to be selected from more than 1,000 applicants for places on the GB Talent Squad.
And after once being inspired by Olympic champion heptathlete Jessica Ennis-Hill, Brogan suddenly looked up to Shelley Rudman, Amy Williams and Lizzie Yarnold who have all struck gold in the skeleton bob at the Winter Olympics.
Brogan, now a key member of the performance squad, trains full time at Bath having graduated in English and sports science from Loughborough University last summer.
She is looking for sponsorship for equipment as a new pair of runners will cost £800, helmet £300 and brush spikes £300.
Brogan is also looking to promote the sport and would be happy to visit local schools. She can be contacted by email at: brogan.crowley@hotmail.co.uk
Brogan’s elder brother Aarron, 25, may also be joining her at a Winter Olympics as he has been a member of the British bobsleigh development squad for the last year.
And younger brother Oliver, 21, is a footballer at Stalybridge Celtic having once been on the books of Everton and Watford. All three siblings had also represented Greater Manchester at athletics and at one time ran for Sale Harriers.
They have clearly inherited a sporting gene from their parents as father John was a sprinter who represented Great Britain while mum Beverley was also a proficient runner who has completed marathons.
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