Bruce Tasker (born 2 September 1987) is a British former

bobsledder Bobsleigh or bobsled is a team winter sport that involves making timed runs down narrow, twisting, banked, iced tracks in a gravity-powered sleigh. International bobsleigh competitions are governed by the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Feder ...

and track athlete. He qualified for the

2014 Winter Olympics , ''Zharkie. Zimnie. Tvoi'') , nations = 88 , events = 98 in 7 sports (15 disciplines) , athletes = 2,873 , opening = 7 February 2014 , closing = 23 February 2014 , opened_by = President Vladimir Putin , cauldron = , stadium = Fisht Olympic ...

in the 4-man discipline.

Life and career

Tasker was born in 1987 in

Lawrenny Lawrenny is a village and parish in the community and electoral ward of Martletwy in the county of Pembrokeshire, Wales. It is on a peninsula of the River Cleddau estuary upriver from Milford Haven where it branches off towards the Cresswell ...

, Wales. When young, Tasker was a talented athlete, which led to his joining the Carmarthen Harriers athletics club at the age of 11. Specialising in the 100m, 200m and 400m disciplines, he broke club records as a youth and won at both distances at several meets, including the Welsh Championship, where he won the 200m at Swansea in 2008, and the BUSA Championships, the 400m in Bedford in 2007. In 2006 he was ranked as the United Kingdom's top under-20s athlete in the indoor 400m. Despite this he failed to reach the top level of the sport and turned his back on sprinting in 2009. Tasker first competed for Great Britain at a competition at

Loughborough Loughborough ( ) is a market town in the Charnwood borough of Leicestershire, England, the seat of Charnwood Borough Council and Loughborough University. At the 2011 census the town's built-up area had a population of 59,932 , the second larg ...

, in 2006. After graduating with upper second class honours, in 2008, Tasker changed events to focus on the 200m, but after winning only a U23 British bronze medal, his interest in athletics was waning. In 2010, while studying for a degree in Biochemistry at the

University of Bath (Virgil, Georgics II) , mottoeng = Learn the culture proper to each after its kind , established = 1886 (Merchant Venturers Technical College) 1960 (Bristol College of Science and Technology) 1966 (Bath University of Technology) 1971 (univ ...

, he was introduced to bobsleigh by British racer

John James Jackson John James Jackson (born 11 April 1977) is a former British bobsleigher and Royal Marines commando. Career He took up bobsleighing at the age of 28 and in September 2005 he trialled at the University of Bath and won a place in the Europa Cup Te ...

. He adapted swiftly to the sport and was part of the four-man team that came first at the 2011–12 British Championships held at Winterberg. Tasker was also part of the four-man teams which represented Great Britain at the 2013 World Championships, coming in fifth and the 2014

Bobsleigh European Championship The European Bobsleigh and Skeleton Championships is the main bobsleigh and skeleton championships in Europe. Bobsleigh Two-man Medal table Four-man Medal table Two-woman Medal table Women's Monobob Medal table Skeleton ...

s, winning a silver medal. He was also part of the four-man crew that finished second at the Lake Placid World Cup meeting in

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

. On the 22 and 23 February 2014, Tasker represented Great Britain in the

Winter Olympics The Winter Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'hiver) is a major international multi-sport event held once every four years for sports practiced on snow and ice. The first Winter Olympic Games, the 1924 Winter Olympics, were h ...

in Sochi, Russia, in the four-man bobsleigh; racing in the first team along with

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

Joel Fearon Joel Fearon (born 11 October 1988) is a British sprinter and bobsledder. He represents the Birchfield Harriers and he is recognisable in the National Trials for wearing a black vest and lycra shorts. His coach is Michael Khmel, who also coached ...

and pilot John James Jackson in GBR1. It was his debut Olympics. GBR1 finished in fifth position, but in 2017 two Russian crews were disqualified for doping violations, pushing the British crew up to bronze. After the Sochi Olympics Tasker undertook training to become a bobsleigh pilot in the summer of 2014. In November 2017 at

Park City Park City may refer to: a city in Utah. Places * National Park City, London, England, UK; see parks and open spaces in London in the United States * Park City, Illinois * Park City, Kansas * Park City, Kentucky * Park City, Montana * Park City, ...

, Tasker finished third in a four-man World Cup race alongside

Bradley Hall Bradley is a village and civil parish in Derbyshire just east of Ashbourne. The population of the civil parish taken at the 2011 Census was 313. Other neighbouring parishes include Hulland and Yeldersley. History Bradley was mentioned in the ...

and Greg Cackett. On 4 January 2018, he suffered a stroke, ruling him out of taking part at the

2018 Winter Olympics , nations = 93 , athletes = 2,922 (1,680 men and 1,242 women) , events = 102 in 7 sports (15 disciplines) , opening = , closing = , opened_by = President Moon Jae-in , cauldron = Kim Yun-a , stadium = Pyeongchang Olympic Stadium , winte ...

. After a career in which he competed at six World Championships and an Olympics, in October 2018 Tasker announced his retirement from competition. In March 2020, he took part in BBC1 cooking show ''MasterChef''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tasker, Bruce 1987 births Living people Sportspeople from Ceredigion Welsh male sprinters Olympic bobsledders for Great Britain British male bobsledders Alumni of the University of Bath Bobsledders at the 2014 Winter Olympics Olympic bronze medallists for Great Britain Olympic medalists in bobsleigh Welsh Olympic medallists