IT is three-and-a-half years until the next Winter Olympics, but the path to Pyeongchang, in South Korea, starts this winter and Mica McNeill has laid down an impressive early marker that suggests she is ready to take on the best in the world.

The Consett bobsleigh star narrowly missed out on a place in this year’s Winter Games in Sochi despite making a late surge out of the junior ranks, but the next few weeks will see her attempt to establish herself at senior level and earn a place in Britain’s senior two-woman bob for the World Cup series.

Her winter programme began last weekend with an outing in the Americas Cup series at Park City – effectively the second tier of world bobsleigh competition – and in partnership with Sian Huxtable, the County Durham 21-year-old finished second overall.

Competing against a strong field that featured a number of Winter Olympians, McNeill drove superbly to secure a silver medal behind the United States’ Winter Olympic bronze medallist Jamie Greuble.

The result was one of the strongest of her senior career to date, and should give her every chance of making the GB 1 bob for the opening World Cup event of the winter at Lake Placid at the start of next month.

With long-term British number one Paula Walker unavailable this winter because she is pregnant, there is a vacancy at the top of the domestic squad, and McNeill will be hoping that her strong start to the season leads to bigger and better things before the World Cup programme ends in Sochi next February.

If things go well over the course of the eight World Cup events, McNeill will hope to be selected in Britain’s leading two-woman bob for next March’s World Championships in Winterberg, which represent the highlight of the 2014-15 season.

“We have some really exciting potential in the squad right now,” said GB Bobsleigh performance director Gary Anderson. “It’s been a great start to the season and there’s a great feeling amongst the squad.

“After Sochi, we had a comprehensive review of our operations, and everything is geared to winning a medal in 2018.”

McNeill’s long-term goal is to win a place at the Pyeongchang Games, and the former Durham High School for Girls student has progressed markedly since she won a bronze medal at the 2012-13 Junior World Championships, which were held in Igls, in Austria.

The next Americas Cup event is in Calgary this weekend, with McNeill set to pair up with Huxtable again as the pair look to develop a partnership that could see them all the way through to 2018.

While McNeill can look forward to the next few months with a high degree of excitement, things are not so bright for fellow North-East bobsleigher John Jackson.

The 37-year-old, who was born in Bishop Auckland and raised in Barnard Castle before moving to the South-West to help further his military career, ruptured his Achilles last year, but astounded medical experts by recovering in time to pilot Britain’s four-man bob at the Winter Olympics.

GB 1 finished fifth in Sochi, and there had been high hopes that Jackson would be able to lead a push towards the medal places during this winter’s World Cup series.

However, after experiencing more pain related to his initial injuries, recent scans revealed a ‘stress response’ problem on his right heel.

Further surgery was required, and Jackson is expected to miss the opening weeks of the World Cup programme, and could potentially be absent for a large chunk of the winter season.

It is hoped, however, that by addressing the problem quickly, British Bobsleigh’s medical team will be able to restore Jackson to full fitness in time for the World Championships.

“If we want him to compete at the World Championships in March, he has to have a period of treatment and rest before we go into the season,” said Anderson. “Jacko is an incredible athlete, but we need to look at how we manage this in the future.”

In Jackson’s absence, Lamin Deen piloted Britain’s four-man sled to gold in Park City last weekend, and the Grenadier Guard is likely to provide Jackson’s main competition ahead of the World Championships.

“The performances by Lamin and Mica have been exceptional,” added Anderson, who will be in charge of the British squad all the way through to Pyeongchang.