Kristan Bromley (born 7 March 1972) is a retired British skeleton racer who has competed since 1996. He won the gold medal in the men's event at the 2008 FIBT World Championships in

Altenberg, Germany Altenberg () is a town in the Sächsische Schweiz-Osterzgebirge district, in Saxony, Germany. Geography The town is situated in the Ore Mountains, 32 km south of Dresden, and 15 km northwest of Teplice, Czech Republic. The village of ...

. This was Great Britain's first gold medal at the

FIBT World Championships The IBSF World Championships (known as the FIBT World Championships until 2015), part of the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation, have taken place on an annual basis since FIBT World Championships 1930, 1930. Starting with 2002, no Wo ...

since

1965 Events January–February * January 14 – The First Minister of Northern Ireland and the Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland meet for the first time in 43 years. * January 20 ** Lyndon B. Johnson is Second inauguration of Lynd ...

. Competing in four

Winter Olympics The Winter Olympic Games (), also known as the Winter Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event held once every four years for sports practiced on snow and ice. The first Winter Olympic Games, the 1924 Winter Olympics, were held i ...

, Bromley's best finish was fifth in the men's skeleton event at

Turin Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

. He has twice won the men's overall Skeleton World Cup title (2003-4, 2007-08). In 2008 he became the first man in history to win the World Championship, European Championship and World Cup in the same season. In September 2015 Bromley announced his retirement from the sport.

FIBT World Cup: 2009/10 Season

Kristan finished the season in 6th place overall in the World Cup. Highlights of the season were a bronze medal in Park City and a silver medal in St. Moritz. The season's results were; Round 1: Park City, USA Bronze Medal (3rd place) Round 2: Lake Placid, USA 9th place Round 3: Cesana (Torino), Italy 16th place (after problem on start) Round 4:

Winterberg Winterberg (; Westphalian: ''Winnenmerg'') is a town in the Hochsauerland district of North Rhine-Westphalia, central Germany and a major winter sport resort of the Wintersport Arena Sauerland. Geography Winterberg is located in the middle ...

, Germany 6th place Round 5: Altenberg, Germany 13th place Round 6: Konigssee, Germany 4th place Round 7:

St Moritz St. Moritz ( , , ; ; ; ; ) is a high Alpine resort town in the Engadine in Switzerland, at an elevation of about above sea level. It is Upper Engadine's major town and a municipality in the administrative region of Maloja in the Swiss ...

, Switzerland Silver Medal (2nd place) Round 8:

Igls Innsbruck (; ) is the capital of Tyrol (federal state), Tyrol and the List of cities and towns in Austria, fifth-largest city in Austria. On the Inn (river), River Inn, at its junction with the Wipptal, Wipp Valley, which provides access to the ...

, Austria 8th place. The Igls race also counted as the 2010 European Championships, and Kristan finished in 7th place.

2010 Winter Olympics

On 29 January 2010, Kristan was officially announced as part of the Team GB Skeleton Bobsleigh squad to compete at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Canada. Other squad members included

Adam Pengilly Adam Laird Pengilly (born 14 October 1977) is a Great Britain, British skeleton (sport), skeleton racer who has competed since 2004. He won a silver medal in men's skeleton event at the FIBT World Championships 2009 in Lake Placid, New York, La ...

, with

Shelley Rudman Shelley Rudman (born 23 March 1981) is a Skeleton (sport), skeleton bobsleigh, bobsleigh athlete who was the 2013 world champion in the event. She won a silver medal at the 2006 Winter Olympics, and is a former World Cup and European champion. E ...

and

Amy Williams Amy Joy Williams, (born 29 September 1982) is a British former skeleton racer and Olympic gold medallist. Originally a runner, she began training in skeleton in 2002 after trying the sport on a push-start track at the University of Bath. Al ...

in the women's competition. Bromley finished sixth in the men's event.

Skeleton sled work

Nicknamed ''Doctor Ice'' by the British media because he earned a PhD from the

University of Nottingham The University of Nottingham is a public research university in Nottingham, England. It was founded as University College Nottingham in 1881, and was granted a royal charter in 1948. Nottingham's main campus (University Park Campus, Nottingh ...

in 1999 with a thesis entitled "Factors affecting the performance of skeleton bobsleds". He appeared in an episode of

Discovery Channel Discovery Channel, known as The Discovery Channel from 1985 to 1995, and often referred to as simply Discovery, is an American cable channel that is best known for its ongoing reality television shows and promotion of pseudoscience. It init ...

's '' Building the Winter Games'' documentary, showing his preparation for the

2006 Winter Olympics The 2006 Winter Olympics (), officially the XX Olympic Winter Games () and also known as Torino 2006, were a winter multi-sport event held from 10 to 26 February in Turin, Italy. This marked the second time Italy had hosted the Winter O ...

, building his sled, and being introduced to the

Cesana Pariol Cesana Pariol was the venue for bobsleigh, luge and skeleton during the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy. The track, built for the games, is located in Cesana Torinese. The venue holds approximately 7,130 spectators, of whom 3,624 are se ...

bobsleigh Bobsleigh or bobsled is a winter sport in which teams of 2 to 4 athletes make timed speed runs down narrow, twisting, banked, iced tracks in a gravity-powered sleigh. International bobsleigh competitions are governed by the International Bobslei ...

luge A luge () is a small one- or two-person sled on which one sleds Supine position, supine (face-up) and feet-first. A luger begins seated, propelling themselves initially from handles on either side of the start ramp, then steers by using the Ca ...

, and

skeleton A skeleton is the structural frame that supports the body of most animals. There are several types of skeletons, including the exoskeleton, which is a rigid outer shell that holds up an organism's shape; the endoskeleton, a rigid internal fra ...

track for the first time. Kristan raced on sleds designed and produced with his brother Richard by their company, Bromley Technologies Ltd

In 2007, Kristan and the company relocated from Bath, Somerset, Bath to the

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, situated south of Leeds and east of Manchester. The city is the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire and some of its so ...

area. Kristan trained at the

English Institute of Sport The UK Sports Institute,https://uksportsinstitute.co.uk/who-we-are/uk-sports-institute/ previously known as the English Institute of Sport (EIS), established in May 2002, is an organisation which provides sport science and medical support servi ...

whilst the sleds were manufactured in the city. Kristan was supported by Bromley Technologies' Formula Ice 2010 programme, which supported Kristan,

and

Nicola Minichiello Nicola Minichiello (born Nicola Gautier on 21 March 1978) is a retired British bobsledder who competed between 2001 and 2011. She won two medals in the two-woman event at the FIBT World Championships, winning a silver in 2005 and making history ...

(Bobsleigh). He was the coach of Dutch skeleton racer

Kimberley Bos Kimberley Bos (born 7 October 1993) is a Dutch skeleton racer who competes on the Skeleton World Cup circuit. She started competing internationally in 2009, originally in bobsleigh, and was selected to the Dutch national team in 2010; she swi ...

when she won the bronze medal at

2022 Winter Olympics The 2022 Winter Olympics, officially called the XXIV Olympic Winter Games () and commonly known as Beijing 2022 (2022), were an international winter multi-sport event held from 4 to 20 February 2022 in Beijing, China, and surrounding areas wit ...

Personal life

Kristan Bromley, known as "Dr Ice", graduated with a BEng in Mechanical Design, Materials and Manufacture from The University of Nottingham in 1994, before earning his Ph.D. in materials engineering after writing a thesis called Factors Affecting the Performance of Skeleton Bobsleigh Bromley is married to

, who won the silver medal in the women's skeleton event at the 2006 games in Turin. Rudman received her medal while Bromley was competing in the men's skeleton event. He has two daughters with Rudman, Ella Rudman, born in October 2007, and Sofia Rudman-Bromley, born January 2015. Bromley was sponsored by the global marketing agency, GyroHSR, and King of Shaves.

Career Results

Olympic Games

References

Other sources

BBC.co.uk article on Bromley's research

BBC.co.uk profile on Bromley for the 2002 Winter Olympics

BBC Sport Assessment of Medal hopes at 2006 Winter Olympics

Shave.com profile

Skeletonsport.com profile

External links

*
Bromley Technologies website
* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bromley, Kristan 1972 births Academics of the University of Bath Alumni of the University of Nottingham English male skeleton racers Living people Olympic skeleton racers for Great Britain People educated at Bacup and Rawtenstall Grammar School People from the Borough of Rossendale Skeleton racers at the 2002 Winter Olympics Skeleton racers at the 2006 Winter Olympics Skeleton racers at the 2010 Winter Olympics Skeleton racers at the 2014 Winter Olympics English mechanical engineers