Craig Pickering has joined Great Britain's bobsleigh team with a view to competing in the 2014 Winter Olympics.
The sprinter competed at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing but missed out on London after having back surgery, and lost his UK Athletics funding in October.
The 26-year-old told BBC Sport: "It's been frustrating because I felt good enough to get funding.
"But I've been in athletics for so long I started to feel a bit jaded. This is a new challenge I'm really excited by.
"Bobsleigh training and athletics training isn't as different as people will think and the initial plan is to do some indoor athletics as well as bobsleigh and ease into the new regime."
Pickering intends to complete a full indoor athletics season this winter as well as pursuing his bobsleigh career.
Britain's bobsleigh team is currently ranked fourth in the world.