Riding a small sled down a frozen track at 130 kilometres per hour while lying face down and head-first is not a sport for everyone, but it’s one that’s seen Australian Olympic skeleton athlete Nick Timmings make his mark on the world stage.

In Orange last week, Nick was touring local schools, sharing his own journey from Perth to the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics and inspiring kids to find their passion and work hard to achieve their goals whether it be on the sporting field or in the classroom.

This was the first school tour in NSW for Western Australian, Nick who visited students at Bletchington Public School, Anson Street School and Canowindra High School as part of the ‘Olympics Unleashed’ program.

Nick said it is all about trying to inspire kids to unleash their full potential, by sharing his open personal journey and the lessons he has had to learn along the way.

“I think sometimes athletes get put on a bit of a pedestal, and going to these schools and chatting to these kids makes them realise that we’re just normal people,” Nick said.

“We also came from humble beginnings, and have just worked hard to get to the Olympic level – it just lets the kids know that if they work hard enough, and are dedicated enough, they can achieve the same sort of things… it’s not like we all came from privilege – we just worked hard to get to where we are.” 

Nick was a relative latecomer to the sport of skeletoning, starting out in 2012 at age 20. But with a background in soccer and athletics, Nick quickly made a name for himself on the competitive circuit.

A decade later, Nick successfully qualified for the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, where he recorded a Personal Best time of 1:01.78 and finished 25th overall on combined times.

“I’ve been fortunate enough to get to that level and represent Australia,” Nick humbly said of his Olympic status.

And Nick’s future in the sport looks bright, bringing home a silver medal from the Open Asian Championships held in PyeongChang, South Korea, in March. He is already hard at work and back in training, getting ready for the return of the competition season in November.