NEWPORT’S Mica Moore claimed two silver medals in her first ever competitive bobsleigh event and is now targeting the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea.

Moore helped the Wales 4x100m women’s sprint relay team set a national record at the 2014 Commonwealth Games but has now switched her attention to winter sports.

The 23-year-old was selected for the GB bobsleigh team earlier this month and teamed up with Mica McNeill in Canada.

The duo won two silvers at the North American Cup in Calgary – Moore’s first competitive event.

“It was so much fun – I really enjoyed it,” said former Newport Harriers athlete Moore.

“It was my first competition in bobsleigh and my first week going down a full bobsleigh track.

“It was a bit of a shock but I really enjoyed it.

“Previously when I was back in Britain I was training on a dry slope in Bath and you just go down a hill – you don’t have the full effect of a racetrack. You just do the start and then get in.

“Then I was lucky enough to go out to Sestriere [in Italy] and try out an ice version of that before coming out to Canada.

“But once I got to Canada that was the first time I’d been down a complete track.

“I [first] went down the track on the Monday and then completed the next weekend.”

Moore and McNeill were only beaten by double Olympic and double World Champion Kallie Humphries and her partner Cynthia Appiah.

“It’s a great way to begin the season,” said GB Bobsleigh performance director Gary Anderson.

“Mica McNeill produced two superb drives on a track where the Canadians would have been looking for a clean sweep of the medals and that’s a real confidence boost moving forward.

“For Mica Moore to come in and perform as she did in her very first race is a real credit to her. She’s only been with us a matter of weeks but she’s already shown great potential and we’re excited about seeing how far she can progress this season.”

Moore will be competing in Canada until next month and says she and McNeill would love to take on the best the sport has to offer at the Winter Olympics.

“We’re always looking to improve and it’s really nice to come from athletics, where it’s an individual event, and then come into bobsleigh where I’m working alongside Mica,” she told BBC Radio Wales.

“It’s really nice. We both have the same goal – we want to go to the Winter Olympics.

“It would be really nice to go. Obviously we’ve got a lot of work to do before then but the ultimate goal would be a nice long career in bobsleigh and potentially the Winter Olympics.”