February 5, 2023 7.00 am This story is over 23 months old

Lincolnshire bobsleigh pilot recalls “life-changing” injury on the track

He has not given up on his dream of Olympic glory

An aircraft engineer based at RAF Waddington recalled the moment he was injured in a “life-changing” incident on the track while competing in Germany.

Corporal John Stanbridge is the pilot for Team GB Bobsleigh and when he competed in the IBSF European Cup in Altenburg in Germany, it didn’t go as planned and was a rather scary experience for him.

Recalling the incident, he told BBC Look North: “I actually got pinned inside and outside the sled, so my head was between the sled and the ice.

A photo from the incident in Germany. | Screenshot: BBC Look North

John Stanbridge suffered injuries in a “life-changing” incident on the track. | Screenshot: BBC Look North

“I felt a crack or a pop and I thought it was just something muscular. I’m fully awake the whole time and we’ve got another minute down the track, and we get down to the bottom and I realise something is wrong and within 20 minutes to half an hour I was on a helicopter to the hospital.”

He added: “I’ve realised that I’m not as immortal as sometimes you think as an athlete, but the dream is still there, we’ve just had to reevaluate and realise it’s going to take a bit longer than we first anticipated.”

John’s recent post about the incident. | Screenshot: John Stanbridge/LinkedIn

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