Stuart Benson

Stuart Benson
Personal information
Nationality British
Born (1981-02-12) 12 February 1981
Glasgow, Scotland
Years active 2011–present
Height 1.95 m (6 ft 5 in)
Weight 103 kg (227 lb; 16.2 st)
Spouse(s) Sarah Benson
Website http://www.stubenson.com
Sport
Country Great Britain
Sport Bobsleigh
Event(s) Four-Man bobsleigh
Club GB Bobsleigh, Bath
Coached by Dominik Scherrer
Peter Gunn
Michael Khmel
Updated on 18 February 2014.

Stuart Benson (born 12 February 1981) is a bobsledder who competes for Team GB, and an avionics technician in the Royal Air Force. His Olympics debut is at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi in the four-man bobsleigh, competing with John James Jackson, Bruce Tasker, and Joel Fearon.

Biography

Benson was born 12 February 1981 in Glasgow, Scotland.[1] He grew up in Troon.[2]

Benson is in the Royal Air Force, working as an avionics technician[1] since the age of 20.[3] He currently holds the rank of corporal.[4][2] Wilst in the RAF, Benson competed with the RAF Athletics Team in the long jump and triple jump.[2] Benson moved into sprinting, running in the fastest Scottish relay team for 16 years; and competing in the Crystal Palace Diamond League.[1][2] However, the relay was not fast enough to qualify for the 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games.[1] This led him to try out at a bobsleigh "talent identification" event in 2011, where he was discovered in bobsleigh.[1] This led to his becoming part of the GBR1 bobsleigh team; at the end of summer 2011 he was selected into the four-man GBR1 team.[5]

In 2011 Benson won the Royal Air Force Sportsman of the Year, mainly for his track sport achievements.[6]

Benson is married to Sarah Benson, who is a long distance runner.[3]

In 2013 the four-man bobsleigh team won a silver medal at the European Championships.[7]

Olympics

Benson's debut Olympics is set to be the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi,[1] and he was given special dispensation for time off from the RAF to attend.[5] Competition there for the four-man bobsleigh event began on 22 February 2014.[4] The British Olympic Association had qualified the GBR1 four-man bobsleigh team as on the "podium programme", i.e. that they have a chance of winning a medal.[5] Benson competed with John James Jackson, Bruce Tasker, and Joel Fearon; of whom only Jackson was experienced, Tasker, Fearon and Benson were all comparatively new to the sport.[5]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Stuart Benson". Team GB. Retrieved 18 February 2014.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Cosford airman aiming for gold in bobsleigh". The Shropshire Star. 5 February 2014. Retrieved 20 February 2014.
  3. 1 2 "GB Bobsleigh Team Jackson". Stuart Benson. Retrieved 18 February 2014.
  4. 1 2 "Stuart Benson aims for flying start at Sochi". The Shropshire Star. 17 February 2014. Retrieved 18 February 2014.
  5. 1 2 3 4 "Scottish athlete, who had never seen a bobsleigh until 18 months ago, is now tipped for Winter Olympic glory". The Daily Record. 27 May 2013. Retrieved 18 February 2014.
  6. ↑ "Stuart Benson". Sochi.ru. Retrieved 18 February 2014.
  7. ↑ Hope, Nick (26 January 2014). "GB bobsleigh quartet warm up for Sochi 2014 with silver medal". BBC. Retrieved 18 February 2014.
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