By Neal Collins

The newest sport at the winter Olympics in Salt Lake City next week should carry a health warning.

Something like: Sliding down a bosleigh run on a tea tray can be hazardous.

But it may be very useful for Britain's traditionally feeble medal count.

The Skeleton offers a serious golden opportunity.

The name derives from the outline of the sledge on which the "sliders" hurtle down the snowy mountains of the world.

Head first. The name might also describe how some of the athletes finish the race.

"Yes, it does look dangerous," admits Britain's gold medal candidate, Alex Coomber, a 27-year-old RAF intelligence officer from Worthing.

"But in reality you can't actually crash out of the track, so it's really a matter of ice burns and bruising when you come off.

"Oh, one girl broke a rib earlier in the season, but when your face is only two inches from the ice, it's not a long way to fall, even at 80mph.

"And you know you'll come to a halt eventually at the bottom of the hill.

"I've only got one small scar over my eye!"

Alex, you'll have gathered, is not an ordinary young lady.

She remembers the hill in Angmering, where, as youngsters, "we'd all fly down the slope on a plastic sledge from Woolies".

She tried "a few extreme sports" like sub-aqua diving, snowboarding and hang-gliding.

Then, in November 1997, she went to an open day where members of the public were invited to try The Skeleton.

A mere 10 days later, Alex, a county 100m sprinter and long-jumper for Sussex, was competing in the World Cup.

Since then she's won the title in 1999, 2000 and 2001.

On January 17, she finished fifth in difficult conditions at St Moritz to clinch an unprecedented hat-trick.

No Briton has ever won a World Cup in winter sports.

She's done it three times on the trot.

And nobody of any nationality has managed that. Yes, it appears the winter Olympics has finally found a downhill sport we Brits are good at.

Alex is now clear favourite to follow Torvill and Dean at Sarajevo in 1994, our last golden moment.

"I think I'm worth a gamble," she laughs, "I know I'm capable of winning but this is a sport which is won or lost by a hundredth of a second so there are plenty of other people capable of winning too.

"I never imagined I'd be an Olympian. When I was young I thought of becoming a sprinter but I wasn't good enough.

"But now that basic sprinting ability is vital.

"Ekaterina Miranova, my main rival from Russia, nearly qualified for the World Athletics Championship this year as a 400m runner and Maya Pedersen, who finished second in this year's World Cup by just one point, was a junior world sprinting champion.

"If you're not an athlete over those first 30 yards, you can't win it.

"I've taken an 18-month sabbatical from the RAF to train for Salt Lake City.

"I used to pay all my costs, but the Lottery has stepped in now.

"It costs £15 every time I go on a bobsleigh track, the specially made aerodynamic suit costs around £170, the Downhill Ski helmet is about £60 and the sled itself would retail at abnout £5,000 so it's not cheap."

Coomber, who graduated from Oxford University with a geography degree, says: "I'd recommend Skeleton as a sport.

" It's got that touch of danger about it and the speed thing is brilliant. "But winning a gold medal?

"Finishing fifth at St Moritz after two awful runs convinces me I can definitely be on the podium on Wednesday, February 20.

"Sometimes the idea of being our great Olympic hope terrifies me, but other days I think: 'I've just got to go out and enjoy myself, enjoy the experience.' "And come back with a gold medal, of course!"