Gary Anderson believes the British bobsleigh team “are on the right performance trajectory” for the Winter Olympics after securing a first podium finish for 16 years.

The GBR1 four-man team of pilot John Jackson and breakmen Stewart Benson, Bruce Tasker and Joel Fearon achieved the silver medal-winning feat at the Lake Placid World Cup yesterday.

The British quartet were in seventh place after the first run but their time of 55 seconds exactly on run two – quicker than any other team – gave them a combined time of one minute 50.22 seconds, just 0.07 seconds behind the victorious United States squad.

Great Britain Bobsleigh performance director Anderson, who was born in Watford, told his organisation’s official website: “I am very pleased with the progress we are making.

“To be honest, this was all part of the plan and to achieve this result on one of the hardest tracks in the world shows we are on the right performance trajectory for Sochi.”

With the Winter Olympics due to start in Russia on February 7, the result was an important landmark and was all the more impressive because Jackson is still returning to full fitness after rupturing his Achilles in August.