Commonwealth Games champion Greg Rutherford sets sights on Winter Olympics
Last Updated: 31/07/14 8:26pm
Olympic and Commonwealth long jump champion Greg Rutherford says he wants to try his hand at the Winter Olympic sport of skeleton.
The 27-year-old added the Commonwealth title to his list of achievements on Wednesday, with a leap of 8.20m enough to see off his rivals.
But now the British record holder has targeted skeleton bob - a sport in which competitors travel at speeds of up to 140kph on a sled just inches from the ice - as a potential new avenue for success.
Apparently the crossover from the speed and power work I do in my event is pretty close.
Greg Rutherford
"I want to go into skeleton bob to see if I can do it," Rutherford told Sky Sports News. "I'm going to give it a go this year but ultimately I will still be jumping.
Terrible
"I might be terrible at it, I don't know - I'm not saying I'm going to be an Olympic champion in it but I want to try it and see if I can do it.
"Apparently the crossover from the speed and power work I do in my event is pretty close so if it works out and I have the chance of a gold medal in the Winter Olympics I'd love to try that."
American Eddie Eagen is the only athlete to earn gold medals at the summer and winter Games, winning the light heavyweight category at the 1920 Olympics before adding another in the bobsleigh in the 1932 Winter Olympics.
Great Britain have a strong record in the skeleton, with Lizzie Yarnold winning Olympic gold in Sochi earlier this year, following on from Amy Williams' triumph in 2010. Shelley Rudman took silver in 2006 and Alex Coomber claimed the bronze in 2002.
Hopefully the win in Glasgow is a catalyst for the next couple of years and I can go to Rio to defend my title.
Greg Rutherford
Rutherford's former Great Britain team-mate Craig Pickering made a similar switch in recent years, moving from the 100m and 60m sprints to the bobsleigh, where he was part of Team GB's squad for Sochi only to have to pull out with a back injury.
Nevertheless, Rutherford still has ambitions in the long jump with the European Championships in Zurich in two weeks' time offering him the chance to add a third major title to his Olympic and Commonwealth crowns.
And Rutherford, who has come back from a ruptured hamstring, said he wants to go for a second Olympic title in 2016.
"Hopefully this is a catalyst for the next couple of years and I can go to Rio to defend the title," he said,
"Last year was a torrid year with injuries. I thought my career might be over but we've worked tirelessly to get back so to win a major title means so much."