IF you want to get to the top in any sport, you have to be prepared to ally talent to hard work. Sometimes, though, even that is insufficient.

Sometimes, money talks, so when County Durham bobsleigh driver Mica McNeill pondered how best to make the step up from promising junior to fully-fledged Winter Olympian, she always knew the issue of finance would raise its head at some stage.

In countries such as Austria, Switzerland, Germany, Canada and even the United States, winter sports share the same profile as their summer cousins. In Britain, even accounting for the growth in popularity that has accompanied the advent of lottery funding for Winter Olympic activities as well as summer ones, the gulf is huge.

So while British Bobsleigh have done what they can to support McNeill, who was crowned World Junior champion last month, their ability to match the facilities and equipment available to the majority of her leading rivals remains severely limited.

What did McNeill do as a result? She bought her own bobsleigh, which she will drive in the opening round of the Senior World Championships in Germany tomorrow. One of Britain’s leading Winter Olympic hopefuls, paying her own way to pursue her ambitions of winning a medal. Somehow, you can’t imagine Mo Farah or Laura Trott having to do the same ahead of Tokyo 2020.

“That’s just the way it is,” said McNeill, who took time out from the senior World Cup circuit to win the World Junior title with team-mate Mica Moore. “British Bobsleigh have been great and have tried to support me all they can, but the reality is that the funds are limited.

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“At the start of season, I knew the next two years were going to be absolutely crucial for me, so I had a decision to make. Did I want to put my fate in my own hands, or leave it in someone else’s?

“Bobsleighs are really expensive – you’re talking between 40,000 and 60,000 Euros, plus another 6,000 Euros or so for the runners. That’s obviously a huge amount of money, but I managed to get a bit from here and there, I had a little bit of help with some sponsorship, and then my family were absolutely amazing because they came up with the rest.

“It’s made such a difference. I know I can trust my equipment now, and I know it’s on a par with what everyone else is using. Also, I know that whatever happens, no one can take this sled away from me. If I don’t perform as well as I want to, I’ll only have myself to blame.”

Having established herself as Britain’s number one driver over the last couple of years, last month’s World Junior Championships success represented another major landmark for McNeill.

The 23-year-old also teamed up with former sprinter Montell Douglas to win on the Europa Cup series – the second tier of world bobsleigh – and is well on track to qualify for the two-woman event at next year’s Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang.

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This weekend’s World Championships will provide an even clearer indication of her progress – the first run in Konigssee is due to take place tomorrow, with the second scheduled for Saturday – and McNeill is targeting a top-six finish.

“It’s obviously a big step up from the Juniors, but if I can come away with a place in the top six, I’d be over the moon,” said the North-Easterner. “I’ve been there or thereabouts a couple of times, but if I could break into the top six, that would be a big statement.

“Bobsleigh is so unpredictable because the tiniest little margin can make a big difference. One wrong move can put you down five or six places, so it’s hard to make too many predictions.

“But we’ve been going well as a team all season, and I like the Konigssee track. I’ve driven here quite a few times, and I feel comfortable.

“If I race to my potential, then the top six is definitely possible. And if I was able to do that, it would set me up perfectly for the start of Olympic year.”

After the World Championships, McNeill will return to her base at the University of Bath for a week before jetting off again for a test event on next year’s Winter Olympic track in Pyeongchang.

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“You don’t want to look too far ahead, but by this time next year, the Winter Olympics will have started,” she said. “A year might sound like a lot of time, but it’s actually not very long at all when you’re trying to tweak certain things and improve them.

“Once the World Championships are over, the Winter Olympic countdown will be well and truly underway. That’s really exciting, but it also rams home how important every race and every training session is now.”

The Alpine Skiing World Championships are currently taking place in St Moritz, and having recorded British skiing’s best World Cup result for 35 years when he finished second in the slalom at Kitzbuhel last month, Pendle’s Dave Ryding has realistic ambitions of claiming a medal.

The Skeleton World Championships follow the bobsleigh events at Konigssee, with Lizzy Yarnold and Laura Deas likely to be in contention at the top of the leaderboard, and both snowboarder Katie Ormerod and ski slopestyle star James Woods are set to feature prominently in Pyeongchang.

British winter sport has rarely been healthier, and while millions might opt to watch B-list celebrities competing on the slopes in ‘The Jump’, McNeill is hoping there will be similar interest in the real thing over the course of the next 12 months.

“It feels like it’s getting there,” she said. “It feels like people are starting to take notice of what we’re doing in winter sports, and that can only be a good thing.

“There are a lot of really talented people doing great things competing against the world’s best, and hopefully by the time the Winter Olympics come around, people will have a much better idea of who we are and what we’re doing.”