A North Yorkshire athlete is set to pilot for the Trinidad and Tobago bobsleigh team at next month's Winter Olympics.
Axel Brown, from Harrogate, made the decision to represent his mother's home country in 2021 and says he has "not looked back since".
As pilot he is responsible for steering the sled at speeds approaching 100mph (160km/h), with Brown previously competing for the Caribbean nation at Beijing 2022.
Brown, 33, who will be competing at his second and final Olympics at Milan-Cortina, says he has to have "a healthy level of fear" for the adrenaline-filled sport.
"You don't grow up in Harrogate thinking you're going to be an Olympic bobsleigher, that's for sure," he says.
"I was playing American football over in the US but unfortunately got released by the team that I was playing for.
"That was a month before the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics, so I was looking for something to do, watching the TV and they start describing these bobsledders.
"I thought, maybe I should give that a go. That's 12 years ago now and I've made a full career out of it."
Brown raced for Great Britain for seven years before making the switch to the Trinidad and Tobago team.
"It looks like we just jump in and enjoy the ride, but I steer the sled so it's my job to make sure we get down," he explains.
"I'm steering around the corner to make sure that we're efficient, smooth and don't crash - because that's a very real part of the sport as well."
Even on the slowest courses, Brown says the bobsleigh races at speeds of about 70mph (113km/h).
"It can be incredibly terrifying," he says.
"Even as I get more experienced I need to keep a healthy level of fear for the sport because it can turn on you in a heartbeat.
"I've always said that if there's a day when I was completely not scared of bobsleigh, that's probably the day to walk away because I'm too complacent."
Brown competed in the two-man event in 2022 and finished 28th out of 30 teams, ahead of Jamaica and Brazil.
The athlete says his "gold medal" moment was qualifying for the latest Winter Olympics, which he explains was a lot harder than four years ago.
"We now had to qualify in the two-man and four-man bobsleigh and they removed two nation spots," Brown says.
"We had to be in the top 17 nations in the world to even qualify, which for us was right at the limit of what was possible.
"We're on 'Operation Don't Come Last', let's see if we can beat somebody else."
The Olympian feels this will be his last ever race so wants to "soak it in, enjoy it and be present".
"My family weren't in Beijing at the last Olympics because of Covid, so it will be really nice to have everyone out and for it to be a very positive end to my career," he says.
Off the track, Brown admits to being much less of a thrill-seeker.
"I drive a nice, normal, safe car because you can't have everything be breakneck speed," he laughs.
After retiring from the sport, he plans to embark on a different adventure of converting a barn for him and his partner to live in.
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