Lee Johnston (born 16 June 1972) is an English

bobsled 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 ...

der who debuted in 1995. Competing in three Winter Olympics (1998, 2002, 2006), he earned his best finish of tenth in the two-man event at

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

Career

Johnston also finished fifth in the four-man event at the 2007 FIBT World Championships in

St. Moritz St. Moritz (also german: Sankt Moritz, rm, , it, San Maurizio, french: Saint-Moritz) is a high Alpine resort town in the Engadine in Switzerland, at an elevation of about above sea level. It is Upper Engadine's major town and a municipality in ...

. Johnston's brother, Karl, was a crewman for the event. Both brothers come from

Whitby Whitby is a seaside town, port and civil parish in the Scarborough borough of North Yorkshire, England. Situated on the east coast of Yorkshire at the mouth of the River Esk, Whitby has a maritime, mineral and tourist heritage. Its East Clif ...

, in North Yorkshire. Johnston and his crew were not selected for the squad at the

2010 Winter Olympics )'' , nations = 82 , athletes = 2,626 , events = 86 in 7 sports (15 disciplines) , opening = February 12, 2010 , closing = February 28, 2010 , opened_by = Governor General Michaëlle Jean , cauldron = Catriona Le May DoanNancy GreeneWayne Gretz ...

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

, despite winning the trial races in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

and Switzerland in 2009. Johnston has competed in over 10 world championships, three Olympic games, over 60 World Cup Races, and he is a 12-time British champion. Johnston finished his competitive career in 2010. Having not been selected for Vancouver 2010, he then became a development coach for the British Bobsleigh team with his focus being on the first Youth Olympic Games in Innsbruck 2012 where the Team of Mica McNeil and Jazmin Sawyers finished in Silver medal position. Johnston then assisted at all levels over the next 4 years from senior and Junior World Championships and then assisting with the coaching team for John Jackson and his team to a bronze medal in Sochi 2014 in the four-man event. He had the pleasure of coaching his oldest son, George Johnston, along with five other talented athletes, while doing the second Youth Olympics. This program had huge success finishing before the Youth games ranked 1 -2 - 3 in the females and 1 -3 - 4 in the males in their series of races. Kelsea Purchall, the number one ranked female in the world heading into the 2016 Lillehammer Youth Olympics, finished in 3rd Bronze medal position, and George Johnston, the number one ranked male in the world at the time, finished 6th. He also coached Mica McNeil and Mica Moore to a gold medal in Winterberg at the Junior World Championships in 2017 Johnston was made the head coach in September 2017, 22 weeks before the Pyeongchang Olympic games where Mica McNeil and Mica Moore also finished the Olympics with the best ever female result- after having their funding removed earlier that year. Johnston has been the head coach through a difficult time from 2017 to 2019, but over those two seasons on the World Cup, Lamin Deen, Brad Hall, and Mica McNeil have all gained their best ever results with their teams. Due to funding, Johnston was released by British Bobsleigh in July 2019 but was re-employed in October as a Consultant Coach and Manager, hoping to carry on the work that has already been done with the senior three pilots. On a side note, his youngest son has been selected for the 3rd Youth Programme, making him the fourth member of the Johnston family to represent Great Britain.

References

1998 bobsleigh two-man resultsBritish Olympic Association profileFIBT profileFIBT World Championships 2007 four-man results
{{DEFAULTSORT:Johnston, Lee 1972 births Bobsledders at the 1998 Winter Olympics Bobsledders at the 2002 Winter Olympics Bobsledders at the 2006 Winter Olympics English male bobsledders Living people Olympic bobsledders of Great Britain People from Whitby Royal Marines ranks Sportspeople from Yorkshire