Profiles: London athletes gear up for Sochi 2014

omposite photograph of members of the Team GB for Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic Games, Credit: Team GB

As the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics is due to officially begin later today, London athletes for Team GB gear up for their big debut in Russia.

Here are the athletes expected to take part in the Games:

  • Craig Pickering - Bobsleigh - Born in Crawley

Craig Pickering, originally a sprinter, represented Team GB at the Beijing 2008 Summer Games, when he competed in the men’s 100m and 4x100m Relay.

Now with a focus on bobsleigh, he has transferred his abilities as a sprinter in order to become one of the top bobsleigh athletes in Great Britain.

  • Dom Harrington - Snowboarding - Born and lives in London

Dom first tried snowboarding when he was 12 at Cairngorm Mountain and then carried on at Sheffield Dry Slope.

He has been a regular on the FIS World Cup and Europa cup tours since turning pro, and the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games will mark his Olympic debut.

British snowboarder Dom Harrington practices ahead of International Big Air event at Battersea power station in London October 29, 2010 Credit: Reuters

  • *Lamin Deen *- Bobsleigh - Born in London

Lamin Deen is the pilot for the GB Bobsleigh 2-man team, having been competing in the sport since 2006. He is also Sarageant Grenadier Guard in the British Army.

As is common with bobsleigh, Deen was originally a sprinter. Whilst in the Army he is a member of the Army major unit’s athletics team specialising in 100m and 200m.

Sochi 2014 will mark Deen’s Olympic debut.

Great Britain's two-men bobsleigh pilot Lamin Deen speeds down the track during an unofficial men bobsleigh progressive training Credit: Reuters

  • Lizzy Yarnold - Skeleton - Born in Sevenoaks

A reasonably late starter at the age of 20, Lizzy Yarnold first started participating in Skeleton after applying for the UK Sport and EIS Talent ID Campaign.

Her first major result came at the 2012 World Championships in Lake Placid, placing above former Olympic medallists to claim bronze and thus confirming her potential in the sport.

Since then, she finished the 2012/2013 season ranked ninth in the world having won two of the four World Cup’s she had entered. She has reached the podium in every race, winning a total of four gold medals, one silver and one bronze medal.

Lizzy Yarnold Credit: Team GB

  • Dominic Parsons - Skeleton - Born in London

A former 400m sprinter, Dominic Parsons was first introduced to Skeleton in 2007, when his friend Adam Pengilly (Team GB athlete at the Turin 2006 and Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games) took him to the push track at Bath University.

Parsons made a blistering start to the 2013-14 World Cup season, reaching the podium in the first race in Calgary.

His bronze medal here marked the first GB men’s podium finish since the 2010/2011 season when teammate Kristan Bromley won bronze in Lake Placid. Parsons is making his Olympic debut at Sochi 2014

Dominic Parsons Credit: Team GB

  • *Chemmy Alcott *- Alpine Skiing - Lives in Hampton Court

Chemmy Alcott has competed in three consecutive Olympic Games, in Salt Lake City, Turin and then Vancouver - at both Turin and Vancouver she finished an impressive 11th place in Downhill and Super Combined respectively.

Despite a horrific accident in Lake Louise in 2010, Alcott embarked on a remarkable road to recovery (which included competing in ITV’s Dancing on Ice) and returned to skiing on the World Cup tour in the 2012/13 season and has now set her sights on her fourth Olympic Games in Sochi.

She is currently ranked in the top 30 in the world for Super G, Giant Slalom and Combined.

Britain's Chemmy Alcott passes a gate during the women's Olympic downhill race in 2006. Credit: Reuters