WINTER Games hero Laura Deas captured the imagination of the nation when bagging bronze in Pyeongchang a month ago.

And now the Melksham skeleton star, who attended a Commonwealth Games send-off at Bath University on Tuesday, is hoping to inspire the next generation of athletes by opening up about her Olympic experience across the country.

The 29-year-old experienced what she described as the ‘longest two minutes of her life’ when Austria’s Janine Flock took to the ice, looking to pinch the gold from Deas’ GB team-mate Lizzy Yarnold.

Remarkably, Flock not only failed to knock Yarnold off the top spot but also recorded a time that kept Deas’ bronze medal status secure.

It means Deas was one of five Team GB athletes to leave South Korea with a medal to her name.

“It’s nice to be focussing on something other than training for a while,” said Deas.

“To have a physical and mental break is important for me. I’m looking forward to getting out and about in the country and talking to people about skeleton.

“Watching kids see the medal and visiting schools is something I’m excited about too.”

Now a household name among sport fans, Deas waved goodbye and wished Bath University’s next crop of athletes well ahead of their flight to the Gold Coast to compete at next month’s Commonwealth Games.

“Hopefully we can inspire more success in Australia,” said Deas.

“The fact we (Bath University) are hosting a Winter Olympics welcoming and a Commonwealth Games send-off shows how many athletes use Bath as a base. If I can help inspire someone to win a medal at the Commonwealth Games that would be fantastic.

“When you start a sport having never done it before, it’s hard to picture being Olympic standard.

“When we started the UK Sport programme we were told we were selected because they think you can win a medal.

“We had that belief from day one, a fire was always burning.

“In the last couple of years I really started to believe I could win a medal.”

Deas first started skeleton racing following a successful career mounted on four legs.

The Welsh flyer skippered the Welsh eventing team before being recognised for her sprinting ability by UK Sport after signing up to the organisation’s Girls for Gold programme.

And her selection came as a surprise to the bronze medallist.

“I was selected purely because of my 30m sprint time, which to me was random as I’ve never been a sprinter,” said Deas.

“I was always a cross country runner and was never consider a sprinter at school. It was a big surprise to be selected for that.

“I went through selection process which started at Bath University.

“There were hundreds of athletes using the push track, they thinned the numbers down and eventually eight of us went to Norway to try the sport on the ice – from there four were selected.

“We have everything we need at Bath under one roof.

“The push track is the only one of its kind in the country. Then there’s the indoor sprint straight, jumps, throws and the high-performance gym.

“Our medical centre makes the whole process really efficient too. It’s easy to run a world class programme from one place.”