Winter Olympic daily updates: #5 Long-awaited Gold for Hirscher and promising GB skeletons
As podium regulars Hirscher and Kim win their first Olympic gold medals, hopes soar for Team GB’s skeleton team, and Team GB’s curling prepare to swing into action.
Feature photo: Andy Miah
A look at the results of yesterday morning’s skeleton training heats certainly boosted Olympic hopes here at Fall-Line HQ: Laura Deas claimed the quickest run in today’s first women’s training heat while Lizzy Yarnold recorded the fastest time in the second heat. Add to that the fact that Dominic Parsons recorded the fastest time in the last Men’s training heat on Monday and the first of this morning’s heats, and the words “hat” and “trick” come to mind… But we’ll have to wait until Friday 16th to see David compete in the Men’s Finals and until Saturday 17th for the Women’s finals.
Already billed “Super Saturday”, the 17th will provide Team GB with the potential to break the current record for a GB Winter Olympics medal haul on a single day: two medals bagged on 3rd February 1924.
Speaking of bagging medals, Austria’s unstoppable Marcel Hirscher secured his first ever gold Olympic medal in the Men’s Alpine Combined event. Having downplayed the importance of adding Olympic gold to his record six consecutive overall World Cup titles and Olympic silver from Sochi, he did describe taking gold as a “dream coming true.”
Meanwhile, the Americans are dominating the Halfpipe, with the 17-year-old “Queen of the Halfpipe” Chloe Kim smashing the Women’s Finals with a 98.25 score for her final run. Kim, who was too young to compete in the Sochi 2014 Games, was the first woman to win a gold medal in snowboarding at the 2016 Winter Youth Olympic Games and is now the youngest woman ever to win an Olympic snowboarding medal. Her compatriot Shaun White somehow managed to improve on her near-perfect score, being awarded 98.50 for his second run in this morning’s Men’s Halfpipe qualifying rounds. Watch the master at work in tomorrow’s final at 02.30 GMT.
Curling fans have been glued to the TV through the small hours as Team GB’s men (Olympic silver medalists in 2014) beat Switzerland 6-5 in the first sessions and the women beat the Olympic Athletes from Russia 10-3. The men are up again at 11.05 GMT against reigning Olympic champions Canada.
Tomorrow sees America’s Mikaela Shiffrin try to secure gold in the Women’s Slalom (first run at 01.15 GMT and second run at 04.45 GMT), when our home-grown talents Alex Tilley and Charlie Guest will be giving it their all.
