Braintree bobsleigh ace Aleasha Kiddle came within six hundreths of a second of claiming a medal at the IBSF Junior World Championships at Winterberg in Germany.

Kiddle and Great Britain team-mate Mica McNeil missed out on a podium finish by the tightest of margins in the women’s bobsleigh event as they ended the two-heat race just 0.06 seconds off third spot.

The former St Michaels Primary School and Tabor High School pupil and ex-Youth Olympic silver medallist McNeil had finished sixth at the same event in Altenberg 12 months previously and their progression was in evidence at another German venue this time.

The British duo were in the bronze medal position after the first of the two runs and were only pipped to the podium by the host nation’s Sabrina Duljevic and Lisa-Sophie Gericke as the Germans completed a clean sweep in the women’s competition.

“To come so, so close shows how far we have come in our Junior programmes,” said Great Britain Bobsleigh coach, Lee Johnston.

“Part of me is disappointed we didn’t get on the podium, but part of me is pleased that I am disappointed as that shows just how much we have progressed.

“Overall it was another very good performance from Great Britain.”

Stephanie Schneider and Lisa Marie Buckwitz won gold and another German pairing, Kim Kalicki and Ann-Christin Strack, took silver, with the latter just 0.12 seconds ahead of the British.

Kiddle and McNeil, who are just 23 and 22 years of age respectively, finished in a time of one minute 54.24 seconds after impressively consistent runs of 57.57 and 57.67 seconds in the competition for athletes under the age of 26.

“We always knew it was going to be a tough ask to beat the Germans in their own backyard – they are so strong on a track like Winterberg – but we came incredibly close,” added Great Britain Bobsleigh performance director, Gary Anderson.

“It was like it was for us at the Senior Worlds last year - just 0.06 seconds off the podium for Mica and Aleasha in a very strong field.

“When you consider that Mica still has four years remaining as a Junior athlete, we are confident she will keep getting better and her time will come.”

Anderson added: “Every single athlete and every single member of the performance team work so hard and I’m personally gutted that they aren’t able to celebrate with a medal.”