BRAINTREE bobsleigh ace Aleasha Kiddle knows the next few months could be key if she is to fulfil her dream of making it into the Great Britain team for the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea.

With British team bosses and coaches turning their thoughts to what athletes they will be taking to Pyeongchang in February 2018, the 24-year-old knows that it is the time to impress and is pleased that she has hit strong form at the right time.

It will be her third season with the British bobsleigh team, having been first selected in 2014 at a talent spotting event when her natural athletic ability marked her out as a brakewoman capable of competing at the highest level.

Kiddle admitted that last winter was a bit disappointing for her, but thanks to some important sponsorship backing from Lookers Ford of Braintree, she has been able to step up her training as a full-time athlete and is beginning to reap the rewards.

The Braintree ace is heading to Italy next week for a training event in Turin and has been turning heads with some record-breaking performances in pre-season British team testing in Bath.

She said: "It has been going really well and I'm really stepping it up now.

"The team do evaluations over the summer on a points-based system and the standard used to be 900 points that you had to meet.

"My previous best was 930, but I hit 999 at the last testing and the coaches have been very pleased.

"I'm hoping I can continue that as I want to get selected for the British team for the World Cup races this year in America as you have to be there really to get into the World Championship team.

"The coaches have said how important this season is as there is also a test event at the Olympic venue in South Korea, which you'll have to have been at the World Championships to be selected for.

"I was struggling for form at this point last year? and was only able to get into the team for Europe Cup races, but I'm feeling much better about it now.

"The sponsorship I've had from Lookers in Braintree has been so good and helped me to be able to go full-time.

"We had initial testing in June, which didn't go as well as I'd hoped it would as I was juggling work commitments with training down in Bath so I spoke to my family about what to do and they said I just needed to go for it to make sure there were no regrets.

"The coaches had always said that I have so much potential and they could see that I could be much better by going full-time and not having to work.

"With the Olympics coming up, I need to be the best brakewoman there is because there are a lot of athletes who have switched from the track and come into bobsleigh and it is becoming so competitive now."