Staff Spotlight: Winter Sports Talent on the Maintenance Team

Before joining the Maintenance Team, Graham was no stranger to high-speed ice tracks, having competed in the Skeleton and embraced a range of Winter Olympic sports, whilst in the Royal Navy.

27th February 2026

Missing the Winter Olympics already? Meet Graham, part of the brilliant Maintenance team here at Queens’, for whom the Olympics holds a special place in his heart as he was part of the British Skeleton team during his time in the Royal Navy/Royal Marines.

“I saw an advert for the Royal Navy Royal Marines bobsleigh team, so I applied. They came back and said they had all their beginners for the year, but to reach out to another guy who ran the Royal Navy Cresta run team, and he took me on as a novice. And then three years later, I won all the individual honours and we won all the team events.”

During his run of Winter sports, Graham was part of the Cresta run team, tried out the two-man bobsleigh (which resulted in a smashed nose!), and eventually settled on Skeleton, where he made the British team in his first year in 1990.

Out of all the locations he’s trained in, the Cresta run and bobsleigh run in St. Moritz, Switzerland were Graham’s favourites. He recalls the memories fondly; “without a doubt, my favourite track. I see these photos, and I’m like, yeah, that’s me!”

Talking about sport representation and how funding (and safety!) has improved since Graham’s time, he says “…They’re very well supported financially, whereas we weren’t. I was maxing out two credit cards every year. Because it was early days, the sponsorships weren’t very good. Bath University were just starting to do research into sleds and materials and runs, and now they’re very heavily involved.”

Cortina, where the Olympics were this year, was a brand-new track. They have to open it a year in advance for it to be tested to Olympic standards. I did it in ’92, and the track then was a man-eater. It was a dangerous track. It was only built for bobsleigh, not for skeleton, so a lot of the side walls going down on straights were just concrete. They didn’t refrigerate them, so there was no ice on them, so you hit those, and you hurt.”

Looking to the future of the Skeleton, Graham tells us to watch out for Amelia Coltman, who came ninth in the Women’s Skeleton at the Winter Olympics this year. With the Mixed team and Men’s winning the gold for Great Britain this year, it feels like Skeleton may be on the up.

For more photos of Graham, plus newspaper clippings from his time on the Cresta Run, visit our Instagram or Facebook.