Greg Rutherford says he will switch sports to go for Winter Olympic gold

Greg Rutherford, the Olympic long jump champion, will try out for the skeleton and bobsleigh this year after setting his sights on becoming the first British athlete to win medals at the summer and winter Games.

Rutherford, who returns to competition at the Indoor Grand Prix in Birmingham on Saturday, will attempt both sports at the British bobsleigh and skeleton base at the University of Bath after the 2014 Commonwealth Games as a first step towards competing in the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, in 2018.

"I am serious about it," Rutherford told the Guardian. "There is something about going down the ice head first that massively appeals to me. I genuinely want to try skeleton and bobsleigh. I might be awful or I might absolutely brick it but it's something I'm really keen to do."

Rutherford believes he has the potential to succeed in winter sports after talking to Shelley Rudman, who is competing in the skeleton in Sochi, and his former coach Stuart McMillan, who is training several American skeleton and bobsleighers at the Winter Olympics.

"I speak to Shelley quite a lot and she has been encouraging me to try skeleton," Rutherford said. "Stuart tells it as it is. If he thought it was a stupid idea, he would say so. I am keen to give it a go this year after the Commonwealth Games. It doesn't mean I'm going to switch sports immediately but it will give me an indication, yes or no, can I do it?

"If I am good enough, my plan will be to continue through to the summer Olympics and after 2016 either switch or spend my winters doing the new sport."

Rutherford's ambition is to become the second athlete to win gold medals in the summer and winter Olympics. Eddie Eagan of the USA won gold as a light-heavyweight boxer in Antwerp in 1920 and in the four-man bobsleigh in Lake Placid in 1932, although three others – Jacob Tullin Thams (ski jumping and sailing), Christa Luding-Rothenburger (speed skating and track cycling) and Clara Hughes (speed skating and road cycling) – have won medals in both Games.

Rutherford knows that some people will be dismissive. But, as he points out, speed is essential in the skeleton and bobsleigh – and with a PB of 10.26sec for 100m he has that in abundance. He will also be following a well-worn path of track athletes switching to winter sports. The sprinter Craig Pickering moved to the four-man bobsleigh in 2012 and was due to compete for Britain in Sochi before injury, while Lolo Jones, who finished fourth in the 100m hurdles at London 2012, will compete for the USA bobsleigh team.

"Speed is the one thing I am incredible fortunate to be blessed with," Rutherford said. "So there is no reason why I can't do well. If I am able to compete in the Winter Olympics then I will go there to win. I have achieved the major goal in my sport, which is winning the Olympic title, and now I want other challenges."

However Rutherford rejects suggestions that he might lose sight of his day job. He says that training under his new coach, Jonas Tawiah-Dodoo, where he works alongside the European under-23 100m silver medallist, Deji Tobais, and the European junior 100m champion, Chijindu Ujah, is going particularly well. And he has high hopes for the new season after a frustrating 2013 during which he ruptured a hamstring and failed to qualify for the world championships final in Moscow.

"I am still incredibly focused on the long jump – anyone who thinks otherwise is welcome to come down to the track and have a session with me," he said. "I am really excited to return in Birmingham, which to my mind is the best indoor meeting in the world."

As if to prove Rutherford's point, he will face the medallists from the world championships, including the Russian Aleksandr Menkov who leapt 8.56m in winning gold. That is just one highlight of many from the event, which features 23 Olympic and Paralympic medallists. Also competing will be Genzebe Dibaba, who is going for her third world record in a fortnight in the women's two miles, the world and Olympic 100m champion, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, and the world 110m hurdles record holder, Aries Merritt, against the world champion, David Oliver.

"It's a baptism of fire because I've not competed since the world championships in Moscow," Rutherford said. "I'm not expected to do something out of this world but it gives me the opportunity to test myself against the very best."

Rutherford's aim in Birmingham is to beat his indoor personal best of 8m, which he believes will set him up for the summer, when he wants to win gold at the Commonwealth Games and European championships. "I look at what Menkov has done and it's absolutely fantastic but there's no way he's a better athlete than I am," he said. "I look at him and I think he is beatable. He's jumping distances I fully expect to do in my career. He is pushing me to go further and I would be very disappointed if I ended up retiring without doing those distances."

Watch the Sainsbury's Indoor Grand Prix on BBC One from 1.15pm on Saturday