ALLYN Condon is celebrating fifth place in the World Championships - after less than a year in bobsleigh.

And the former international sprinter, known as the Runcorn Rocket, wishes he'd made the switch sooner.

The 33-year-old's athletics career turned sour towards the end after a series of political wrangles, but he has found a new sporting lease of life.

He said: 'I have set my goals on the Winter Olympics in 2010 - that's the reason I came into the sport.

'I'll be 35 then so that would be the realistic target and how well I do will determine whether or not I carry on beyond that.'

Condon - who appeared at the Sydney Olympics in 2000 - was number three in the Great Britain 1 sled driven by Lee Johnston, which recorded the fastest time on the third run at historic San Moritz, Switzerland.

With their second crew coming in ninth, GB enjoyed the kind of success few had predicted.

However, Condon says it was a question of peaking at the right time.

'They had a target for us to try to scrape into the top 12, so to finish fifth was really good,' said Condon.

'Everything we did as a team just started to come together.' Only the number-one crews from triumphant hosts Switzerland, Canada, Germany and America finished ahead of GB1, who claimed the scalp of World Cup leaders Russia.'

Condon only jumped into a sled for the first time last summer.

His track and field career involved many highs including gold medals in European Cup, World Cup, European Championships and Commonwealth Games.

'This is a different sort of sport altogether with learning to work together as a team and getting on with everybody while you are away.

'We have been away for three to four months but it has worked out well in the end.'

GB1 clocked 147kph (93mph) on their fastest 1min 05secs run.

San Moritz, the world's only natural-ice bobsleigh track, takes about 10 seconds longer to negotiate compared with most tracks.

While admitting the sport is pretty hairy, Condon has so far avoided any major mishaps.

But he added: 'I'm sure it is only a matter of time. It is part of the sport.

'During the training week in San Moritz, both the American and German number-one crews went over so it is not something you can't think will never happen.

'We are just told to either hide in the bob or just jump out of the back.'