Harwin sponsors GB Olympic bobsleigh team

“Harwin’s philosophy has always been about finding pioneering ways to set new benchmarks and striving to accomplish more,” said company spokesman Ben Green. “The technology that we develop has to perform under the most challenging of circumstance and cope with the most extreme conditions, and we definitely recognise these traits in what the GB bobsleigh team are currently doing. All of us here at Harwin wish them every success.”

Leading the team is sleigh pilot Lamin Deen (left), already a double Olympian having competed at Sochi in 2014 and PyeongChang in 2018 – career highlights include 5th place in the 2015 World Championships and a silver medal in the 2017 World Cup, where he broke the track record at 97 mph.

Currently in the Grenadier Guards, Lamin has represented the Army in sports including boxing, basketball and athletics.

The rest of the team is brakeman Ben Simons, runners Joel Fearon and James Dasaolu “who have both clocked sub-10s times in the 100m sprint,” said Harwing and former long jumper Greg Rutherford, who won gold medals at London 2012 and 2014 Commonwealth Games, and then both European Athletics and World Athletics Championships.

“With direct financial backing for bobsleigh from UK Sport coming to an end after the Pyeongchang games, we’ve needed to find funding from alternative sources,” said Deen. “Harwin’s involvement in this venture is greatly appreciated. It will enable us to get the most out of our training and testing programmes during the months ahead, and hopefully help to give us an edge when we compete in Beijing 2022.

The sled used by the GB team isn’t suitable for winning medals, according to Harwin, and the team is trying to raise around £110,000 for a competitive one.