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Deep in the heart of the Austrian forest it's midwinter. It's normally | :00:11. | :00:21. | |
cold, dark and quiet. But tucked away behind these trees are some of | :00:22. | :00:28. | |
the bravest and fastest athletes that you ever see. | :00:29. | :00:46. | |
Welcome to the Olympia ice Canal high above Innsbruck for the | :00:47. | :00:56. | |
Bobsleigh Skeleton World Championships. This area has held | :00:57. | :00:59. | |
this event many times before but bobsleigh medals in particular have | :01:00. | :01:03. | |
been in short supply for Great Britain. But in skeleton we have a | :01:04. | :01:11. | |
proud history to look back on. COMMENTATOR: Alex Coomber for Great | :01:12. | :01:14. | |
Britain. What a marvellous moment for Shelley Rudman and in her first | :01:15. | :01:21. | |
competition. Amy Williams going for gold for Great Britain. It was a | :01:22. | :01:28. | |
beautiful run by Lizzy Yarnold, she is down, and in control. She's in | :01:29. | :01:32. | |
first place and getting faster. Keep it together, Shelley! Hold it | :01:33. | :01:38. | |
together. Over 120 kilometres per hour. Amy Williams really is going | :01:39. | :01:46. | |
for gold here. 0.94 seconds, still in the lead by a comfortable margin. | :01:47. | :01:55. | |
Le Monde, Lizzie, keep it together. Alex Coomber gets a bronze medal. | :01:56. | :02:05. | |
Wow! That was superb. You couldn't have asked for anything more. | :02:06. | :02:09. | |
Shelley Rudman is now the Olympic silver-medallist. Last term, surely | :02:10. | :02:17. | |
it is gold for Great Britain. Yes! Amy Williams is the queen of speed. | :02:18. | :02:24. | |
Lizzy Yarnold is the Olympic champion. Oh my goodness! | :02:25. | :02:30. | |
The biggest are of British skeleton in the last two years since Sochi | :02:31. | :02:36. | |
has of course been Lizzy Yarnold and we've all been looking forward to | :02:37. | :02:40. | |
watching her slide at the World Championships, but here you are on | :02:41. | :02:44. | |
the sidelines, why is this? I fancy supporting the other athletes in the | :02:45. | :02:49. | |
warm and I really needed a break. After the Olympics I did the year | :02:50. | :02:53. | |
following that and I was world champion. And two more years before | :02:54. | :02:58. | |
the next Olympics in Pyongyang, it was tough getting my head around it | :02:59. | :03:02. | |
and I needed a mental break. It is not a physical one, you're not | :03:03. | :03:05. | |
injured or ill, or recovering from anything? No but I think the | :03:06. | :03:10. | |
four-year cycles are quite short, it's not a huge amount of time to | :03:11. | :03:14. | |
test equipment, test training programmes, and have a break as | :03:15. | :03:19. | |
well, so I almost had to force that upon myself and have this | :03:20. | :03:22. | |
competition year off. We are going to have you in the | :03:23. | :03:24. | |
commentary box for this Championships. What else are you | :03:25. | :03:28. | |
filling your time with in the Euro way? It has been fantastic, normal | :03:29. | :03:33. | |
life is fantastic, I'm part of a book club with friends and doing an | :03:34. | :03:37. | |
open University course is trying to obscure myself as well as being an | :03:38. | :03:41. | |
athlete. It is very healthy to have a balance in life. Very good. In | :03:42. | :03:46. | |
Lizzie's absence the British torch is being carried in the winning's | :03:47. | :03:51. | |
skeleton by Laura Davies. Congratulations on being selected | :03:52. | :03:54. | |
for the World Championship squad, what are your hopes for when you | :03:55. | :03:59. | |
arrive? I want to come away with a medal, it is fairly simple, every | :04:00. | :04:03. | |
time I take part in a race I want to win a medal and to be on the podium | :04:04. | :04:07. | |
would be a brilliant way to cap what has been a good season. You have | :04:08. | :04:11. | |
already won a bronze medal recently. What was it like when you broke into | :04:12. | :04:15. | |
the top three? It does your confidence lots of good because it | :04:16. | :04:18. | |
is the mission of the things you have worked on for such a long time | :04:19. | :04:22. | |
and to win a gold medal in the first half and a bronze in the second half | :04:23. | :04:27. | |
is building nice momentum. And reminding people of my presence, and | :04:28. | :04:30. | |
hopefully that means other people see me as a bit of a threat as well. | :04:31. | :04:34. | |
I'd like people to be concentrating more on what I'm doing rather than | :04:35. | :04:38. | |
what they are doing. You are currently fourth in the world, is | :04:39. | :04:42. | |
that a frustrating place to be? It is and it isn't. Obviously it's | :04:43. | :04:46. | |
really close to third and I'd love to come away with a crystal globe at | :04:47. | :04:50. | |
the end of the year but I was third last year and if I stay in fourth | :04:51. | :04:53. | |
I'm building in the right direction and I can at least get on the | :04:54. | :04:59. | |
overall podium next year. Falling off the back of Amy and Lizzie, do | :05:00. | :05:03. | |
you feel more pressure as a woman in the world of skeleton? There is a | :05:04. | :05:08. | |
level of expectation being a woman in British skeleton because we have | :05:09. | :05:12. | |
a great legacy. More than anything it brings confidence because they | :05:13. | :05:14. | |
have come through the same process that I've come through, the same | :05:15. | :05:18. | |
programme with the same support staff and the same way of doing | :05:19. | :05:22. | |
things. So I know that I'm in a system that is capable of producing | :05:23. | :05:26. | |
medals. It is a really nice place to be actually. | :05:27. | :05:28. | |
We wish Laura the best for her upcoming competition. The first | :05:29. | :05:32. | |
thing to talk about is the weather now, this can change so quickly. | :05:33. | :05:36. | |
What happens if it buckets down like this during a run? It is tough if | :05:37. | :05:41. | |
you are racing and it is snowing because it slows you down. Being a | :05:42. | :05:44. | |
winter sport you expect good snow one minute and be clear the next, | :05:45. | :05:49. | |
you just don't know. Your most recent chapter of success of women's | :05:50. | :05:55. | |
skeleton in written, but it's going back 15-20 years now. -- in Britain. | :05:56. | :06:01. | |
What are the core ingredients? British skeleton is great at picking | :06:02. | :06:05. | |
out athletes, we pick great athletes, bring them in and they | :06:06. | :06:08. | |
have excellent coaching and excellent equipment. We have been | :06:09. | :06:12. | |
really lucky at bringing athletes through really quickly. I think the | :06:13. | :06:15. | |
men we want them to pull it out of the bag. Who should Laura be looking | :06:16. | :06:22. | |
out for of the foreign competitors? There is a strong German athlete | :06:23. | :06:26. | |
Tina Hermann, who has won four races in the World Cup this season. And | :06:27. | :06:32. | |
Janine Flock, the local girl. She has been preparing for this World | :06:33. | :06:35. | |
Championships for the last ten years of her life. It is her home track? | :06:36. | :06:41. | |
It is her home track. We are going to run for cover and Lizzie is going | :06:42. | :06:45. | |
to the commentary box but a few hours ago she walked the track to | :06:46. | :06:50. | |
pick out the critical moments that could affect the result. It is a | :06:51. | :06:56. | |
thing of beauty, created for the 1976 Winter of the big games commit | :06:57. | :07:01. | |
was the first combined bobsleigh, skeleton and Lewis Delhi luge track | :07:02. | :07:05. | |
in the world, dropping 124 metres in less than a minute. I my first race | :07:06. | :07:11. | |
when here and I love it. At just 1200 metres it's one of the shortest | :07:12. | :07:14. | |
tracks in the world which means the push is vital. Get that right and | :07:15. | :07:21. | |
you will carry loads of pace far down the track. The first six | :07:22. | :07:26. | |
corners are essentially flat. So you need to let the sled run to maintain | :07:27. | :07:34. | |
speed. If you do too much you will oversteer and lose time entering the | :07:35. | :07:36. | |
more demanding corners down the track. This is the longest, largest | :07:37. | :07:47. | |
and most spectacular corner on the track. It's the start of the | :07:48. | :07:49. | |
technical section designed to slow down bobsleigh is an skeleton sled | :07:50. | :07:54. | |
is. You have to nail all 270 degrees without error to have a chance of | :07:55. | :07:59. | |
victory. Soon you will reach corner nine, a two oscillation turned | :08:00. | :08:02. | |
meaning you go up and down twice. The second feeling of pressure often | :08:03. | :08:07. | |
catches sliders out. If you get that steer wrong you could be in big | :08:08. | :08:11. | |
trouble, because after this it gets fast. Very fast. Ukipper last five | :08:12. | :08:17. | |
turns at 120 kilometres per hour. They call the final section and the | :08:18. | :08:21. | |
labyrinth because is where athletes can get lost. But if you find your | :08:22. | :08:29. | |
way out the prize could be victory. World Cup leader Tina Hermann set | :08:30. | :08:44. | |
the pace on the first run. She was the only woman to break the 54 | :08:45. | :08:49. | |
seconds barrier with her time of 53.96. Hometown girl Janine Flock | :08:50. | :08:55. | |
has been waiting for this moment for two years. Her face has been on all | :08:56. | :09:00. | |
of the posters for this World Championships. She finished her | :09:01. | :09:05. | |
first run just 0.15 seconds behind the German. America's Anne O'Shea | :09:06. | :09:10. | |
and Germany's Jacqueline Loelling rounded out the quickest of the | :09:11. | :09:13. | |
chasing pack. Laura Deas produced a trademark powerful start but she | :09:14. | :09:18. | |
could not hold onto the initial speed, finishing down eighth place. | :09:19. | :09:21. | |
Team-mate Donna Crichton was 17th. The sliders ran in reverse order for | :09:22. | :09:32. | |
the second run and it was all change at the start. Germany's Sophia | :09:33. | :09:38. | |
Griebel moved up from 12 to third position after a near flawless | :09:39. | :09:44. | |
second run and Russia's Olympic bronze-medallist Elena Nikitina and | :09:45. | :09:48. | |
Switzerland's manager Tony finally had the drives for the festering | :09:49. | :09:55. | |
starts. Elena Nikitina moving up to fifth from 10th and Jill Dhoni | :09:56. | :09:59. | |
moving up from 14th to sixth place. Tina Hermann get the lead, | :10:00. | :10:03. | |
increasing by just 100th of a second from Janine Flock. Laura Deas lost | :10:04. | :10:08. | |
time on the final section of the track and slipped down three places | :10:09. | :10:12. | |
to 11. Donna Crichton stayed in 17th. Joining Lizzie in the | :10:13. | :10:17. | |
commentary box to talk through the last two runs is Martin Heymann. | :10:18. | :10:24. | |
Tina Hermann, the leader overnight, first on the ice and. Martin Heymann | :10:25. | :10:31. | |
and world champion Lizzy Yarnold watching the action. About the same | :10:32. | :10:40. | |
as yesterday. With a night's rest she has reviewed her notes from | :10:41. | :10:43. | |
yesterday and will be wondering how she can improve her sliding from the | :10:44. | :10:46. | |
day before. This is the top flat section of the track, leading with | :10:47. | :10:54. | |
her head side to side. You cannot see her toes moving, which is great, | :10:55. | :10:59. | |
and this is the big corner, so see how she is. Looking for the exit. | :11:00. | :11:04. | |
Pretty much in the middle of the track, which is ideal. And now this | :11:05. | :11:09. | |
is the fast section of the track, you don't want any errors at all. | :11:10. | :11:14. | |
120 kilometres per hour. She was sideways a little bit there and that | :11:15. | :11:20. | |
will slow her down. Taking off a bit of speed, across the line with a | :11:21. | :11:30. | |
54.04, the fastest yesterday was 53.96, three tenths of a second off | :11:31. | :11:34. | |
the track record. Set last Sunday in the team race by her. | :11:35. | :11:41. | |
Janine Flock, overnight, just 16 hours away from her lifetime goal. | :11:42. | :11:49. | |
That is her coach, who is a local hero in Austria. The Austrians find | :11:50. | :11:54. | |
the speed on this track that no one else can. | :11:55. | :12:01. | |
A huge amount of support for Jenin. She is desperately going to try and | :12:02. | :12:08. | |
get a fast approach time because that's what she can have over the | :12:09. | :12:15. | |
race leader Tina Hermann. 5.50, a couple of hundreds slower than Tina | :12:16. | :12:19. | |
Hermann. It was so evenly matched in their starts. She's got to find it | :12:20. | :12:23. | |
in her starts. We saw the replay from yesterday. She was very skiddy | :12:24. | :12:28. | |
in both heats and she could find some pace now. You can see how Jenin | :12:29. | :12:36. | |
is has her feet almost stuck together like glue, head moves but | :12:37. | :12:40. | |
her body doesn't, that is how comfortable she is -- Jenin. That | :12:41. | :12:47. | |
looked quite good. On the fast section of the track you don't want | :12:48. | :12:51. | |
any skidding. She was 18 hundredths of a second behind. One point 19.6. | :12:52. | :13:00. | |
The German has opened up the margin from 16 to 27 hundredths of a | :13:01. | :13:07. | |
second. That is a shame for Janine Flock, I'm sure she did not expect | :13:08. | :13:11. | |
the lead to increase also she will be wondering how to get that down. | :13:12. | :13:15. | |
Three tenths on a short track like Igls could be a challenge. Maybe | :13:16. | :13:21. | |
that opens up an opportunity for our overnight bronze sitter, Sophia | :13:22. | :13:28. | |
Griebel she put in a stunning second run. The 17th fastest start, the | :13:29. | :13:37. | |
eighth fastest start in the second heat. It was a great conversation of | :13:38. | :13:43. | |
a good drive and the ice at its best. Absolutely. The ice has | :13:44. | :13:47. | |
recently been sprayed before the race and it will have water over the | :13:48. | :13:50. | |
top which will make it slicker and faster. Sofia being team-mates with | :13:51. | :13:56. | |
race leader Tina Hermann they will have shared notes and worked out how | :13:57. | :14:01. | |
to make their run even faster will stop she looks totally relaxed at | :14:02. | :14:05. | |
the moment. We will want to see how high she is. Looks like a perfect | :14:06. | :14:12. | |
line. Very close to the wall, lucky not to hit it. This is a crucial | :14:13. | :14:18. | |
section, the long straightaway. Her runners were pretty straight the | :14:19. | :14:22. | |
whole way down, that is fast. Speed at the bottom 119.1. Tina Hermann | :14:23. | :14:33. | |
119.8, losing a fraction. She was 15 hundredths down as she lay down. She | :14:34. | :14:37. | |
has lost quite a lot of speed. Sometimes when they look good you | :14:38. | :14:41. | |
wonder why was that slow? Possibly because they are over steering and | :14:42. | :14:44. | |
doing too much to get the perfect line. Elena Nikitina in fifth | :14:45. | :14:54. | |
overnight, two hundredths out of the medals, massive opportunities for | :14:55. | :14:57. | |
all of these athletes. Elena Nikitina is the fastest starter in | :14:58. | :15:02. | |
the field. Elena Nikitina's push record from the weekend in the team | :15:03. | :15:09. | |
race was 5.11, 5.16 is two hundredths of a second faster than | :15:10. | :15:13. | |
yesterday so she is on form and here to win today. Watching Elena | :15:14. | :15:18. | |
Nikitina's head, her pink helmet moves from side to side while | :15:19. | :15:23. | |
directing the sled. She started 21 hundredths of a second faster than | :15:24. | :15:26. | |
Anne O'Shea so she has already hundredths of a second faster than | :15:27. | :15:32. | |
overhauled that. It is down to seven hundredths of a second. This is the | :15:33. | :15:34. | |
crucial technical part of the track. Eight and nine. How she comes out of | :15:35. | :15:39. | |
Cornet nine is crucial down the straightaway. Those runners went | :15:40. | :15:43. | |
into a bit of a skid so that will lose a bit of time. She looks in | :15:44. | :15:47. | |
control and looks comfortable. Speed at the bottom 118. She was in second | :15:48. | :15:54. | |
place on the splits ahead of Janine Flock but comes in in third place | :15:55. | :15:57. | |
ahead of Anne O'Shea. That is a really big move up for Elena | :15:58. | :16:04. | |
Nikitina. Elena Nikitina just 23 years old, the Moscow slider, start | :16:05. | :16:08. | |
record holder on this sort she track from the Olympic Games and took | :16:09. | :16:14. | |
bronze medal. Ten of our 26 sleds down, next up one of the fastest | :16:15. | :16:18. | |
starters and lots of support for Great Britain's Laura Diaz here. Her | :16:19. | :16:21. | |
team-mate Lizzy Yarnold alongside me in the booth watching the action. | :16:22. | :16:27. | |
The perfect distance for the push. Her eyes are immediately looking | :16:28. | :16:36. | |
into the first corner. She will want this so badly. She wants to move | :16:37. | :16:41. | |
from 10th position well into the top ten. Every race has been consistent | :16:42. | :16:45. | |
and progressing. This is a very flatter section. What Laura is | :16:46. | :16:49. | |
avoiding is using her toes too much to oversteer. A really nice entrance | :16:50. | :16:57. | |
into that corner. You want it in the middle of the track. Quite close to | :16:58. | :17:03. | |
the wall, there? A lot of people fringing the wall. If you don't | :17:04. | :17:09. | |
touch it, that's OK. OK for us! She is up to ninth on the split times. | :17:10. | :17:14. | |
You have to hold onto the bottom of the track, don't let anything go | :17:15. | :17:22. | |
away. She overhauls... No, she doesn't, she comes in tide, with | :17:23. | :17:30. | |
Lelde Priedulena, in 10th position. Whatever they have decided to work | :17:31. | :17:37. | |
on, she must have done correctly. Donna Creighton, from Great Britain. | :17:38. | :17:42. | |
Perfect technique from the British athlete. The eyes set on corner one. | :17:43. | :17:52. | |
A big thank you to Paul and Wendy for letting Donna stay with you when | :17:53. | :17:57. | |
she is in Bath training. Hello to Nigel and Olivia as well. Elaine and | :17:58. | :18:02. | |
Barry, you have always supported her over the years. Thank you so much | :18:03. | :18:07. | |
from Donna. And her coach, this is why she is such a good push athlete, | :18:08. | :18:09. | |
thanks for all of your work. She also said, Andy, would you mind | :18:10. | :18:20. | |
calling her back? This is the bottom section of the track. Her shoulders | :18:21. | :18:29. | |
are down on the sled. Nice line in 11. This looks quite fast down the | :18:30. | :18:36. | |
bottom. At this stage, the field is going away a little bit. That's not | :18:37. | :18:44. | |
bad. 55.10. She had a 55.11 yesterday, that was when the speed | :18:45. | :18:47. | |
was already gone from the track. The fastest was 54.90 six. | :18:48. | :18:53. | |
Tina Hermann extends her lead over the hometown Queen, Janine Flock. | :18:54. | :19:04. | |
Elena Nikitina slips into third. Anne O'Shea and marina could still | :19:05. | :19:16. | |
tackle her. A dead heat for 11. After the first two runs, Laura | :19:17. | :19:21. | |
tweeted that it was not really the Runge was looking for. Run three, | :19:22. | :19:26. | |
more of the same? Positive outcome? Every year you have to improve. It | :19:27. | :19:34. | |
is about consistency. I don't think she's got the result she wants, she | :19:35. | :19:39. | |
will go all-out for four. What about the top? Where will the middle end | :19:40. | :19:45. | |
up? Janine Flock is still in second, Tina Hermann is likely to win. | :19:46. | :19:48. | |
Lizzie will run back to the commentary box for the last run, run | :19:49. | :19:50. | |
four. Getting everything exactly where you | :19:51. | :19:57. | |
need it, that is what Tina Hermann has done this season. Four wins, two | :19:58. | :20:04. | |
silver medals. Janine Flock, no Austrian woman has ever won a | :20:05. | :20:08. | |
skeleton World Championship medal. Unless there is a cataclysm going on | :20:09. | :20:14. | |
later, she will, the least, do that. There is the start list. When we get | :20:15. | :20:20. | |
down to the serious business, Annie O'Shea,, tracing it spot on the | :20:21. | :20:25. | |
podium. -- chasing a spot on the podium. | :20:26. | :20:35. | |
Donna Creighton, 17th in the women's skeleton World Championships. | :20:36. | :20:46. | |
Preparing herself for a strong and fast posh. She is a great push | :20:47. | :20:50. | |
athlete. She knows how to compete. She won on the world circuit last | :20:51. | :20:55. | |
year. Everything going into this posh. Her eyes set on corner one. | :20:56. | :21:03. | |
Five hundredths of a second quicker than her first start, equalling her | :21:04. | :21:08. | |
quickness of the competition. You can see her blue crash helmet, | :21:09. | :21:11. | |
leaning from one side to the other, looking with her eyes, to the left | :21:12. | :21:17. | |
and right, and the sled will follow. That is how fine the steering is. | :21:18. | :21:23. | |
The current leader was two tents behind Donna after the first heat. | :21:24. | :21:31. | |
19 hundredths advantage for Donna Creighton. Into the technical | :21:32. | :21:37. | |
section. The important thing is not to panic and get back online. Coming | :21:38. | :21:42. | |
down to single digits. Five hundredths in front. Donna has a | :21:43. | :21:50. | |
spot at the line. By 100th of a second! That is how tight skeleton | :21:51. | :21:56. | |
racing is. It comes down to 100th of a second after four minutes of | :21:57. | :22:00. | |
sliding. She will be disappointed to lose the slot. That is ridiculously | :22:01. | :22:09. | |
tight. Tied for 11th after the third of four heats here in Innsbruck, | :22:10. | :22:16. | |
Austria. The top British slider, Laura Diaz, former Equestrian | :22:17. | :22:21. | |
athlete. Has never been into a gym before she was recruited. She | :22:22. | :22:31. | |
trained so hard for this, the eyes are looking directly into corner | :22:32. | :22:37. | |
one. Her fastest start of the day. Her walk on music is Elena Nikitina | :22:38. | :22:46. | |
the grid. I thought it might be the theme from The Horse Of The Year | :22:47. | :22:56. | |
Competition. Just trying to keep the line. Laura, the winner of the first | :22:57. | :23:06. | |
race of the year. Good technique, keeping the head low. Excellent, | :23:07. | :23:13. | |
this is the labyrinth. This is where you can win, the positions gets you | :23:14. | :23:18. | |
up the ranks. Still 17 hundredths ahead. At the line, three hundredths | :23:19. | :23:29. | |
is the gap. That is the support team, she could not do it without | :23:30. | :23:38. | |
them. Mum, dad, her boyfriend, Rich. The top three, after three of the | :23:39. | :23:43. | |
four heats. A Russian, Austrian and German. Elena Nikitina, the fastest | :23:44. | :23:50. | |
starter in women's skeleton this season. Three fastest starts. | :23:51. | :23:53. | |
Comfortable quicker than anybody else. The Olympic bronze medallist, | :23:54. | :24:02. | |
shooting for the medals. She is on the offensive, desperately trying to | :24:03. | :24:05. | |
claw back after her first run, slower than it should have been. | :24:06. | :24:09. | |
Another huge start. It is all about getting that push speed as far down | :24:10. | :24:17. | |
the track as possible. Her pink crash helmet, you can see she leans | :24:18. | :24:20. | |
one way and another, that is the way of steering. She also uses her toes. | :24:21. | :24:30. | |
17 hundredths in front from the first heat, now doubled that. A bit | :24:31. | :24:38. | |
of a skid on the exit of seven. She had a great first trip today to add | :24:39. | :24:42. | |
to her overnight fourth place. Moved into the medals. Can she challenge | :24:43. | :24:47. | |
for the silver? I can't believe how tense this is. A massive lead, three | :24:48. | :24:56. | |
tenths of a second. She is in the medals again. She will take at least | :24:57. | :25:04. | |
a bronze medal. She will be so happy with that bronze in Sochi, and then | :25:05. | :25:15. | |
one here. Next, let's hope for something huge from Janine Flock. | :25:16. | :25:21. | |
The Austrian, second place in each of our three runs. | :25:22. | :25:32. | |
An excellent push start, her whole life for the past ten years has been | :25:33. | :25:37. | |
about this World Championships. She knows the track so well. She knows | :25:38. | :25:42. | |
where to find speed. It might be one of the biggest runs of her career. | :25:43. | :25:49. | |
She took bronze last week with the Austrians in the team competition. | :25:50. | :25:52. | |
Trying to shoot for gold or at least stay in front of Elena Nikitina. She | :25:53. | :25:58. | |
needs everything now. She has been around this about 200 times in the | :25:59. | :26:03. | |
last year. Let's check this exit. Perfect. This is the most technical | :26:04. | :26:07. | |
section of the track. The exit of nine is crucial. 14 hundredths back. | :26:08. | :26:16. | |
The gap is shrinking. The Austrians find speed here like nobody else | :26:17. | :26:22. | |
can. Two corners to go. She will take at least a silver medal. She is | :26:23. | :26:26. | |
in front of Elena Nikitina. A great run from Janine Flock. She leads, | :26:27. | :26:34. | |
with one to go. Is it enough to get in there? Only one minute will tell. | :26:35. | :26:38. | |
The last minute of your reign as world champion. Whoever wins this, | :26:39. | :26:43. | |
it will have been a great race. So, for Tina Hermann, a chance to | :26:44. | :26:54. | |
take her first World Championship title. A midfield push athlete. But | :26:55. | :27:04. | |
the way she slides, on her Home Track, she lets the sled run. When | :27:05. | :27:09. | |
she steers, it is precise and perfect. As in almost every run, she | :27:10. | :27:13. | |
and Janine Flock have been equal at the start. But Tina has fans are | :27:14. | :27:21. | |
more speed. A little wobble. Two tents could disappear in the next | :27:22. | :27:28. | |
couple of corners. She has stopped losing time as she gets to the | :27:29. | :27:41. | |
corner. Very tense, do not skid. This is the first section. A view | :27:42. | :27:48. | |
corners to go. Top speed, it will be the fastest run of the competition, | :27:49. | :27:51. | |
as it has been two times already. Tina Hermann is the new world | :27:52. | :27:57. | |
champion, with 54.12. A shattering final run. Janine Flock takes | :27:58. | :28:01. | |
silver. Elena Nikitina gets the bronze. You could not have asked for | :28:02. | :28:08. | |
a better competition from Tina Hermann. Her fifth win of the year, | :28:09. | :28:10. | |
but by far the most important. Tina Hermann, the world champion. | :28:11. | :28:22. | |
Janine Flock, silver medallist. Elena Nikitina the bronze. Six | :28:23. | :28:27. | |
different nations in the top half dozen. | :28:28. | :28:31. | |
Congratulations, what were you thinking about overnight? It was | :28:32. | :28:39. | |
very hard. I cannot sleep very well. But then I sleep, and it was OK. We | :28:40. | :28:44. | |
have a very special place in our hearts for Lizzy Yarnold, what will | :28:45. | :28:48. | |
it be like when she comes back? I think we will battle and fight | :28:49. | :28:53. | |
again, against each other, and we will see. Laura, how do you assess | :28:54. | :28:59. | |
your runs? It will probably take a bit of time to properly absorb | :29:00. | :29:02. | |
everything that has happened. But I've got to be happy with what I | :29:03. | :29:07. | |
did. I did two consistent runs. I did not have the speed, but that | :29:08. | :29:10. | |
does not mean that I didn't do what I wanted to do. It's just a shame I | :29:11. | :29:15. | |
could not jump up the order. She is in the commentary box this year, | :29:16. | :29:22. | |
next year she is coming back. Is that a good thing, or quite tricky? | :29:23. | :29:25. | |
It is an amazing thing, we will have such a strong team leading into the | :29:26. | :29:29. | |
Olympics. All other nations will be watching us. Laura, she is top three | :29:30. | :29:33. | |
at the moment. Lizzie coming back, we will have a really strong team. | :29:34. | :29:37. | |
We are going to push each other to the very last point, going into the | :29:38. | :29:43. | |
Olympics, hopefully. So, the women's skeleton medals about to be handed | :29:44. | :29:48. | |
out. The moment you lost your world title? I am very proud to give my | :29:49. | :29:52. | |
world title over to Tina Hermann, she so deserves it. She was very | :29:53. | :29:58. | |
consistent, dominant almost? Absolutely dominant, she has been a | :29:59. | :30:02. | |
whole season. It's by far the most important win of her five this year. | :30:03. | :30:05. | |
She is still a young athlete, I think she will improve over the next | :30:06. | :30:11. | |
few years. A word on the Austrians, they have enjoyed their silver | :30:12. | :30:16. | |
medal? Yes, the home athlete, Janine Flock, she has been waiting for this | :30:17. | :30:21. | |
competition for years. She has huge amounts of local support and I'm | :30:22. | :30:24. | |
very proud of her silver medal. There must be part of you thinking | :30:25. | :30:28. | |
you are going to race them again, were you watching and thinking, I | :30:29. | :30:32. | |
could beat that bit, I could do that bit better? I was so into watching | :30:33. | :30:37. | |
them that I didn't think about me. Lior! I hope I can still beat them | :30:38. | :30:44. | |
next year. The champion chips gone for two weekends, so there were | :30:45. | :30:47. | |
events last weekend. That's Championships. | :30:48. | :30:50. | |
In the women's bobsleigh Germany upgraded silver to gold and finished | :30:51. | :31:00. | |
three tenths of a second dead of Canadian Olympic champion Kaillie | :31:01. | :31:07. | |
Humphries. Laurence Gibson of the USA took bronze. Great Britain | :31:08. | :31:17. | |
finished a promising 12. The men's two-man competition was won by | :31:18. | :31:20. | |
another German pairing, Francesco Friedrich and Thorsten Margis | :31:21. | :31:22. | |
finishing ahead of compatriots Yannis Lochner and Joshua Bluhm, | :31:23. | :31:28. | |
with Alex Bauman taking bronze for Switzerland. But the biggest story | :31:29. | :31:34. | |
from the British perspective was the performance of Bruce Tasker and Joel | :31:35. | :31:38. | |
Fearon who finished an incredible fourth-place, the best performance | :31:39. | :31:44. | |
by a British duo in 50 years. It's not one of the hardest tracks in the | :31:45. | :31:48. | |
world, but the difficulty is that everyone has been here and knows the | :31:49. | :31:52. | |
track inside and out. Have spent lots of time here. You are competing | :31:53. | :31:56. | |
against drivers who have been here for many years. It's not hard to get | :31:57. | :32:00. | |
down but it is hard to be fast. What kind of challenge is it for | :32:01. | :32:04. | |
you, Joel, the difference between a two man and a four-man? I spent lots | :32:05. | :32:09. | |
of my career doing the four-man, so it was a bit different. Pushing with | :32:10. | :32:13. | |
someone like Bruce makes it a lot easier. I really enjoyed it, me and | :32:14. | :32:22. | |
Bruce have been a -- through a lot and it was nice to have a good | :32:23. | :32:25. | |
reunion and have a good result. An amazing result in the men's | :32:26. | :32:30. | |
two-man bobsleigh. Put that into perspective. How important was that? | :32:31. | :32:35. | |
Bruce is part of the accelerated driver programme, he's one of the | :32:36. | :32:39. | |
three athletes on that, only two years into the eight year programme, | :32:40. | :32:45. | |
so it is a huge achievement to get fourth-place in the two-man | :32:46. | :32:48. | |
bobsleigh. They were 10th in the first run and absolutely smashed it | :32:49. | :32:53. | |
the last three runs. In the two-man particularly you've got to go back | :32:54. | :32:57. | |
to black-and-white pictures to find a British two-man bobsleigh team do | :32:58. | :33:00. | |
anything like that performance. Historically we have not been so is | :33:01. | :33:04. | |
stressful in the two-man bobsleigh in the men's and there is huge | :33:05. | :33:07. | |
talent in the depth of their programme. Is there something about | :33:08. | :33:10. | |
bobsleigh and skeleton coming together because that has been an | :33:11. | :33:14. | |
amalgamation in the last year, what difference does it make? The BBS say | :33:15. | :33:19. | |
is now one federation and we encourage each other and | :33:20. | :33:21. | |
professionalism is there in the skeleton and bobsleigh and we are | :33:22. | :33:26. | |
there to support each other as one team. Let's turn our attention to | :33:27. | :33:28. | |
the men's skeleton, we have two Brits. On it Parsons will be going | :33:29. | :33:33. | |
for a very good top ten performers, only two years 2p on Chang and he | :33:34. | :33:37. | |
was to be fighting. Swift had his first international, edition Igls | :33:38. | :33:42. | |
and he loves the track and he will aim for the top 20. What difference | :33:43. | :33:46. | |
does the layer of finishing, what kind of funding is in place for the | :33:47. | :33:51. | |
finishing positions? Yemenite British ports have a simple funding | :33:52. | :33:55. | |
structure, top eight, top 12 and top three. We could not do it without | :33:56. | :33:59. | |
the lottery funding. Hi you finished the better funding you get? | :34:00. | :34:06. | |
Absolutely. -- the higher you finish. Let's see how the first two | :34:07. | :34:11. | |
runs panned out. In the World Championships the competitors get to | :34:12. | :34:13. | |
choose their start position for the first run on the basis of their | :34:14. | :34:17. | |
World Cup standings. Reigning world champions Martins Dukurs has only | :34:18. | :34:22. | |
lost one race this season so as leader he chose to slide second and | :34:23. | :34:26. | |
completed an almost flawless run that broke the track record, posting | :34:27. | :34:33. | |
a time of 52.14 seconds. But next was the rising Korean star Symbian | :34:34. | :34:40. | |
UN, now coached by Richard Brumley, brother of former GB slider | :34:41. | :34:43. | |
Christian. The first man from Asia to win a World Cup event just over | :34:44. | :34:48. | |
three tenths slower than Martins Dukurs. If ever there was an athlete | :34:49. | :34:51. | |
perfectly suited to this pusher's track it was the Russian rocket Alex | :34:52. | :34:57. | |
and a tragic of, 4.57 start time should have seen the Olympic | :34:58. | :35:01. | |
champion challenging but a scruffy run saw him clipped the exit of | :35:02. | :35:05. | |
Kreisel and meant he finished eight 100th of a second a head of Yun. | :35:06. | :35:13. | |
Dominic Parsons finished in eighth place and an early error from David | :35:14. | :35:17. | |
Swift after the fourth fastest start and he ended his first run a | :35:18. | :35:23. | |
disappointing 23rd. The top 20 sliders took to the track in reverse | :35:24. | :35:28. | |
order for the second run. Dominic Parsons slips down to 10th place | :35:29. | :35:33. | |
whilst the ever improving something you is improving with every run on | :35:34. | :35:39. | |
this track. This time the second quickest on the second outing. The | :35:40. | :35:49. | |
lead was down to just two 100th of a second. David Swift obviously | :35:50. | :35:53. | |
learned from his first run, moving up five places to 18th at the end of | :35:54. | :35:58. | |
the first day, case of what could have been for him. For the third run | :35:59. | :36:05. | |
they go fastest to slowest mean that Martins Dukurs is first on the ice. | :36:06. | :36:09. | |
Time to join your commentators John Morgan and Martin Heymann. The first | :36:10. | :36:17. | |
day's heats saw Martins Dukurs in dominant form in the men's skeleton | :36:18. | :36:21. | |
is more Championships and now he's got to consolidate and extend his | :36:22. | :36:26. | |
lead. 4.87 in the first run, 4.86 in the second, 4.87 in the third run, | :36:27. | :36:33. | |
that typifies what this guy does. How about the music coming out of | :36:34. | :36:39. | |
the box? Superman! John Williams, and why not! A bit of snow falling | :36:40. | :36:43. | |
but no snow has built up on the track, it has only started to snow | :36:44. | :36:47. | |
likely five or ten minutes ago and track workers will sweep the track | :36:48. | :36:50. | |
as much as they can between the heats. Out of the Kreisel, fringing | :36:51. | :36:55. | |
on the left-hand wall, the snow is blowing up already. Nine to ten. | :36:56. | :37:00. | |
Straight down the middle. He's like a video game! He is. If there was a | :37:01. | :37:06. | |
tramline he's following it. He's just on another planet. The guy is | :37:07. | :37:11. | |
not like anyone else. Did he make a mistake? 52.11, a new track record | :37:12. | :37:19. | |
in the snow, are you kidding me? It is just unbelievable to watch him. | :37:20. | :37:24. | |
And yet he will get up and go back and think he needs to tidy it up. | :37:25. | :37:31. | |
His father gives him a look. We just saw a track record at the finish. | :37:32. | :37:40. | |
Chance to see the track record. Tretiakov needs to get below the | :37:41. | :37:44. | |
record. I said he did a record yesterday but he was 100th of a | :37:45. | :37:47. | |
second off. The first of the two runs. He is not the young Tretiakov | :37:48. | :38:02. | |
we are used to. That brings back 11 hundredths of Martins Dukurs's lead. | :38:03. | :38:09. | |
That starting velocity carries him through. He's got to stay at 41. | :38:10. | :38:17. | |
This is where he was sloppy yesterday. Did he touch the wall? | :38:18. | :38:23. | |
Not quite! 45 hundredths, the first round lead of 53, we are getting | :38:24. | :38:28. | |
back to that. He needs to break the track record to stand any hope. He's | :38:29. | :38:32. | |
about equal but that's not good enough. He is on record pace, he's | :38:33. | :38:42. | |
really starting to blow. 52.32. That is better than anything he did | :38:43. | :38:46. | |
yesterday. That was the old track record before. By some margin. It | :38:47. | :38:55. | |
has been snowing now for ten minutes. It had been snowing for a | :38:56. | :39:02. | |
few minutes after Martins Dukurs went. Richard Brumley builds the | :39:03. | :39:12. | |
sled and coaches this young Korean athlete. We can call him Mr Quad, | :39:13. | :39:20. | |
his legs are enormous. Look at the snow on the track, just wafting it | :39:21. | :39:26. | |
aside but it is slowing him down. Good form through the first three | :39:27. | :39:33. | |
curves. A lot of the track is covered but not all of it. He was | :39:34. | :39:39. | |
only two hundredths behind Alexander Tretiakov in the battle for silver | :39:40. | :39:43. | |
medal. Any snow will rob him of the chance. He still has a chance to | :39:44. | :39:50. | |
catch Tretiakov. Still only third on the split times. He had a wayward | :39:51. | :39:57. | |
run in the first heat, still in third on the split times, losing | :39:58. | :40:01. | |
ground to Tretiakov, only 74 hundredths behind at the bottom of | :40:02. | :40:07. | |
the track and Yun comes in. Seven hundredths away. Still faster than | :40:08. | :40:08. | |
anything he did yesterday, right? Now they are starting to sweep and | :40:09. | :40:23. | |
there is a delay. We are in trouble. The job is to make this an equal | :40:24. | :40:27. | |
race and this is not how it was for Martins Dukurs. They are never going | :40:28. | :40:35. | |
to chase down Martins Dukurs. They have to have a fair chance. If they | :40:36. | :40:40. | |
are going faster than they went yesterday it is fair. The ice is | :40:41. | :40:48. | |
faster but the snow makes it unfair. It is OK to disagree but I think | :40:49. | :40:52. | |
right now it doesn't make that much of an effect. The guys trying to get | :40:53. | :40:56. | |
into the top 20 when it has been snowing for an hour. That is half an | :40:57. | :41:04. | |
hour from now. That is the judgment now, let's let it sit. The first | :41:05. | :41:14. | |
three slides. 1.10. That tap will not help. Three tenths away from the | :41:15. | :41:20. | |
medals and he is already 35 hundredths away from the medals | :41:21. | :41:28. | |
halfway down the track. You can see the snow flurries blowing out | :41:29. | :41:31. | |
underneath the sled on every corner. It is light snow, it is not setting. | :41:32. | :41:36. | |
It is wet. Three tenths of a second slower than Sungbin Yun on that run | :41:37. | :41:41. | |
alone. Still faster than he went yesterday. | :41:42. | :41:52. | |
Dominic Parsons of Great Britain. Top ten after the first heat. One | :41:53. | :42:01. | |
hundredths of a second behind. He has an opportunity to move up. He | :42:02. | :42:05. | |
has Matt three hundredths behind him. Talking to him before the | :42:06. | :42:15. | |
event, I said you have a chance to move up a couple of spots today. | :42:16. | :42:19. | |
Yes, especially if I make the start I used to have, used to be a good | :42:20. | :42:24. | |
starter but he had the ankle surgery and he is not what he used to be in | :42:25. | :42:29. | |
the first 15 metres. Two years ago we saw him in the first World Cup in | :42:30. | :42:33. | |
Calgary medal in the World Cup and we thought Great Britain had a good | :42:34. | :42:37. | |
slider. But he hasn't matched it. The injury to the ankle has a lot to | :42:38. | :42:42. | |
do with the way you sprint. After the first two heats he has pulled in | :42:43. | :42:46. | |
front of the German and he has to hold the slide and not lose the | :42:47. | :42:50. | |
ground again. Moving up into ninth place. One spot at a time. This is a | :42:51. | :42:57. | |
good run down at the bottom, snow flying everywhere. But at the line. | :42:58. | :43:05. | |
53.07 moving him ahead. Only five hundredths faster than his first run | :43:06. | :43:13. | |
yesterday. Dave Swift of Great Britain, the fourth fastest starter | :43:14. | :43:18. | |
in both heats, 4.91 and 4.90. I expect him to go a little bit | :43:19. | :43:24. | |
quicker. David Smith, the development coach, ICC coach for | :43:25. | :43:27. | |
Great Britain. If he could get in the 80s ear the way he runs. The | :43:28. | :43:33. | |
youth coach in Lillehammer has just seen a British girl, 15 years old, | :43:34. | :43:39. | |
take the youth Olympic gold in women's skeleton, 4.90 is the start | :43:40. | :43:47. | |
for Dave Swift. 4.9 one, zero, he has the start down. He has that | :43:48. | :43:55. | |
down. He's got to find more consistency down the track. -- | :43:56. | :44:02. | |
talking about who will make it into the final run, he needs a good run | :44:03. | :44:08. | |
to book his place. This looks pretty good. Come on, Swifty, nice and | :44:09. | :44:14. | |
straight out of nine, tiny little skid, setting him up nicely for No | :44:15. | :44:22. | |
10. Hold it together. Don't overreact in the labyrinth. He's | :44:23. | :44:26. | |
going to move up a couple of places. He was up to 16th, 17th on the split | :44:27. | :44:31. | |
time, moving ahead of Alexander Auer and he is two hundredths behind | :44:32. | :44:36. | |
Florian Mayer. Alexander Lucas like he could be on the bubble for the | :44:37. | :44:43. | |
top 20. Yesterday is Swifty's run 53.7 four, today, 53.03. The 10th | :44:44. | :44:50. | |
best time of the run. If his day yesterday was like that run he'd be | :44:51. | :44:54. | |
in the top half dozen. Is his start suggests he could be. Martins Dukurs | :44:55. | :45:02. | |
leads by zero point 75 seconds. The battle is on for the medal | :45:03. | :45:11. | |
positions. So, run the three of the men's | :45:12. | :45:15. | |
skeleton has come to an end. Is the competition forming as you thought | :45:16. | :45:19. | |
it would? It pretty much is. Martins Dukurs is way ahead going into the | :45:20. | :45:23. | |
forefront leading the World Cup, so he's the master of skeleton at the | :45:24. | :45:28. | |
moment. In second place it is Tretiakov, the current and the | :45:29. | :45:31. | |
champion. Really close behind Tretiakov is the new and | :45:32. | :45:34. | |
up-and-coming Korean athlete Sungbin Yun, only been on the World Cup | :45:35. | :45:39. | |
circuit for two years so second and third place are still to play full. | :45:40. | :45:43. | |
Career putting a big push behind sliding sports, big-time for the P | :45:44. | :45:49. | |
Chan Olympics. There are two strong male sliders competed but Sungbin | :45:50. | :45:53. | |
Yun seems to be learning every single week. He is a phenomenal | :45:54. | :45:57. | |
slider. I don't think anyone can hold him back. What about the Brits? | :45:58. | :46:02. | |
How did they get on? Dominik would be pleased if he was further into | :46:03. | :46:05. | |
the top ten. Swifty should be very happy with his third run he had a | :46:06. | :46:10. | |
fantastic start. I hope both of them really go for it and enjoy the final | :46:11. | :46:14. | |
round. OK, the build-up is over, it's down to the last and final run | :46:15. | :46:19. | |
in the men's skeleton. Over to the commentators John Morgan and Martin | :46:20. | :46:20. | |
Haven. Martins Dukurs still practising | :46:21. | :46:29. | |
those moves that could carry him to glory. Sungbin Yun of Korea on the | :46:30. | :46:36. | |
fringe of winning his first World Championship medal. | :46:37. | :46:42. | |
All four runs count, any deficit after the first three, you have to | :46:43. | :46:49. | |
make-up to overhaul the guy that follows you down on the ice. That is | :46:50. | :46:55. | |
as true for everybody, all the way down to Martins Dukurs. Every | :46:56. | :47:02. | |
athlete's favourite sponsors, their mum and dad. They will help out. | :47:03. | :47:06. | |
Without parents, none of these athletes would have ended up in this | :47:07. | :47:10. | |
Championship. David Swift is no different. | :47:11. | :47:14. | |
He's got the 50 metre thing, look at that. Good start again. 4.90 three. | :47:15. | :47:28. | |
He's definitely one of the better athletes in the first 50 metres. | :47:29. | :47:37. | |
Then it is about getting relaxed on your sled, finding a way to get | :47:38. | :47:45. | |
down. His slides, 21st fax test, 16th fastest and then 10th fastest. | :47:46. | :47:51. | |
That is a real improvement. The consistency, this sport is about | :47:52. | :48:01. | |
consistency, great lines. He is holding on well. Day two, definitely | :48:02. | :48:06. | |
not overthinking it. A really nice run from Swifty. 53.10. That is a | :48:07. | :48:15. | |
great run. If he had a couple of those instead of a 74 and 33, he | :48:16. | :48:20. | |
would be in the top half dozen. Day one, not great. Day two, must be | :48:21. | :48:28. | |
better for Swifty. The top British slider in this | :48:29. | :48:37. | |
competition, 10th after three out of four heats. Hoping to move up the | :48:38. | :48:43. | |
leaderboard, like he did in his third run. He's not the starter that | :48:44. | :48:47. | |
he used to be a couple of years ago before he had a bad ankle surgery. | :48:48. | :48:53. | |
Tall, thin, square shoulders. A lot like Matthew Antoine, coming up | :48:54. | :48:59. | |
soon. I said before the race, he said I wish I just had a 10th more | :49:00. | :49:04. | |
better at the start. Found a faster start than so far in the | :49:05. | :49:08. | |
competition. He is currently in front of the current leader, Michael | :49:09. | :49:19. | |
Zachrau. This could be very close. He needs a big run to stay in the | :49:20. | :49:25. | |
top ten. This is where he's got the experience to get the speed down | :49:26. | :49:29. | |
here. Still great numbers. The fastest speed we have seen. He will | :49:30. | :49:35. | |
have a lead and a top ten finish up the line. 52.88, best we have seen. | :49:36. | :49:41. | |
He seals a top ten finish. Watch this track and field instinct. | :49:42. | :49:54. | |
Look out high his arms come up from behind. This is like a track and | :49:55. | :49:57. | |
field sprinter, polling through the air. Look at his hands, that this | :49:58. | :49:59. | |
technique. Sungbin Yun of Korea, he cut his | :50:00. | :50:12. | |
first-ever deliberate -- took his country's first-ever World Cup when. | :50:13. | :50:21. | |
A little slide? 4.87. I am guessing that Asia has won a World | :50:22. | :50:26. | |
Championship medal before. Japan, the 2003 World Championships. But | :50:27. | :50:29. | |
this will be his country's first ever if he gets to the bottom. A | :50:30. | :50:33. | |
World Championship medal. The Koreans are well positioned for | :50:34. | :50:41. | |
2018, not just men's skeleton, men's bobsled. The track opens in two | :50:42. | :50:51. | |
weeks. I like the Korean chances of winning that a couple of years from | :50:52. | :50:55. | |
now. Another couple of years on ice, and who will be right in the face of | :50:56. | :51:04. | |
Martins Dukurs and Alexander Tettey -- Tretiakov. Takes the first medal | :51:05. | :51:16. | |
for Korea. His coach is delighted, so should he be. Here is the Olympic | :51:17. | :51:25. | |
champion, Alexander Tretiakov. The world champion two seasons ago as | :51:26. | :51:31. | |
well. The Russian rocket. He holds the record at 73. 73! Ties the | :51:32. | :51:37. | |
record. He holds a track record on almost | :51:38. | :51:48. | |
every track he has been on. He has been very inconsistent coming down | :51:49. | :51:51. | |
the track. Still in second place, but when you look at the title in | :51:52. | :51:57. | |
Sochi, he was very consistent down the track. The year before that, he | :51:58. | :52:01. | |
won the World Championship with the same kind of consistent sliding. On | :52:02. | :52:07. | |
this little, simple track, he has been inconsistent. Too much | :52:08. | :52:11. | |
skidding, sideways slides. They hardly look anything to the naked | :52:12. | :52:15. | |
eye, but to the stopwatch it makes a huge difference. He could fall | :52:16. | :52:21. | |
behind! Sungbin Yun might lead with one to go! Tied for silver at least! | :52:22. | :52:31. | |
They are tied to the 100th of a second. If you told me before the | :52:32. | :52:35. | |
season but the Koreans would tie the Russians for a silver medal... Now, | :52:36. | :52:47. | |
going for his fourth world title since 2011, when he won his first, | :52:48. | :52:52. | |
Martins Dukurs, reigning world champion. | :52:53. | :52:57. | |
This is not a victory lap, but it is if he gets on the sled cleanly. 50 | :52:58. | :53:06. | |
seconds of ultimate focus. Third-best time in the heats, | :53:07. | :53:13. | |
besides being the best slider, he is probably the most were athlete in | :53:14. | :53:21. | |
the field. He has won 47 out of 56 races in the past seven or eight | :53:22. | :53:25. | |
years. Who else have a title like that? | :53:26. | :53:31. | |
Someone said earlier they have a race on shovels at the end of the | :53:32. | :53:36. | |
season, somebody said he could be handed a shovel and probably still | :53:37. | :53:41. | |
win. He may win by over a second, on the shortest track on the planet! | :53:42. | :53:48. | |
Look at him, he is making everybody look slow. 76 mph, a track record! | :53:49. | :53:54. | |
His first track record in four heats! Victory for the fourth World | :53:55. | :54:03. | |
Championship, for the Superman, Latvia's Martins Dukurs. Finally, a | :54:04. | :54:11. | |
week of emotion explodes. Every time he comes out, he wins by a second in | :54:12. | :54:15. | |
a sport that is measured in hundredths of a second. From joint | :54:16. | :54:24. | |
silver medallist Tretiakov and Sungbin Yun of Korea. | :54:25. | :54:29. | |
David Swift, what a recovery after a horrible first day. And the Auer | :54:30. | :54:41. | |
brothers both in the top 20 in their first World Championships. | :54:42. | :54:46. | |
David, is that the best performance of your career? Not quite. I had a | :54:47. | :54:52. | |
seventh place finish in the World Cup last year. So, I had higher | :54:53. | :54:56. | |
expectations than that. The first run put me in a bad place and I | :54:57. | :55:00. | |
started picking spots up, but not enough. How do you put into | :55:01. | :55:04. | |
perspective your progress over the run? For a moment, you are standing | :55:05. | :55:08. | |
on the leaders step for a second or two. Added feel? Good, it makes a | :55:09. | :55:17. | |
change. 23rd after the first run. It shows what we are capable of, it is | :55:18. | :55:22. | |
a case of what could have been, unfortunately. Dominic, I was | :55:23. | :55:25. | |
looking at your body language after you stepped away from the podium, | :55:26. | :55:28. | |
you did not look altogether enamoured with your performance, is | :55:29. | :55:33. | |
that fair? That is how I felt after each of the runs today and | :55:34. | :55:36. | |
yesterday. I worked really hard for this and I thought, I honestly | :55:37. | :55:42. | |
thought, I was possibly going to be able to get a medal. But my push was | :55:43. | :55:46. | |
not anywhere near what it should have been. What do you put that down | :55:47. | :55:52. | |
to? At the moment, I don't know. It seems to be going the right way this | :55:53. | :55:56. | |
season. I have ankle surgery over the summer and it was quite a long | :55:57. | :56:01. | |
path back to being able to push out again. But it seemed to be coming | :56:02. | :56:07. | |
together. It was not there today. In other World Championships you made | :56:08. | :56:11. | |
that look very easy, was it easy? It look easy, but absolutely not. If | :56:12. | :56:17. | |
you asked the question one week before, how big a gap that would be | :56:18. | :56:20. | |
between first and second, I would say two tenths, maybe three. I | :56:21. | :56:26. | |
thought it would be the tightest race in my career. I know the track | :56:27. | :56:31. | |
was easy, short, every mistake counts. The Russians are really | :56:32. | :56:37. | |
strong in the posh, they did not win two American World Cups, they | :56:38. | :56:43. | |
trained hard. I did really hard runs, pushing, good level and also | :56:44. | :56:48. | |
the equipment was running good. Thanks to everybody that helped me, | :56:49. | :56:53. | |
the team, the crazy spectators, it is unbelievable. So, the end of the | :56:54. | :57:01. | |
men's skeleton, you are quite good at skeleton but also very good at | :57:02. | :57:05. | |
analysis. You absolutely called that? I can't believe Martins | :57:06. | :57:11. | |
Dukurs, he smashed the race. Two athletes, Tretiakov and Sungbin Yun, | :57:12. | :57:17. | |
they were tired after four races. Joint silver medals, no bronze. What | :57:18. | :57:25. | |
did you make of the Brits? Mixed results, Dominick was not happy. He | :57:26. | :57:33. | |
has a lot to improve on. But Swifty, two years ahead of them, that is the | :57:34. | :57:39. | |
big goal. There is one other British skeleton result we need to bring you | :57:40. | :57:43. | |
up-to-date with. That is from the youth Olympic Games. Lillehammer is | :57:44. | :57:48. | |
playing host to the next generation of athletes and 15-year-old Ashley | :57:49. | :58:01. | |
put -- Pittaway won. This is what she had to say afterwards. You have | :58:02. | :58:06. | |
just won goal for Great Britain, how does it feel? Amazing, so may people | :58:07. | :58:12. | |
came to watch, and it is just amazing. I'm blown away. You won by | :58:13. | :58:18. | |
a mile, over a second. How does it feel? It was good, it was great. I | :58:19. | :58:27. | |
was quite calm after the first run, because I had a big gap. It was very | :58:28. | :58:32. | |
good, because the training didn't go very well yesterday. I was very down | :58:33. | :58:42. | |
and so that was just amazing. Further success, Kelsey Birchall has | :58:43. | :58:53. | |
won a bronze medal. I don't think I could have done better, especially | :58:54. | :58:57. | |
with the weather conditions. We haven't actually sled in snow, it is | :58:58. | :59:02. | |
the first time on the track, which was obviously challenging from the | :59:03. | :59:05. | |
start. I have done my fastest start time today, which is really good and | :59:06. | :59:11. | |
I am really happy about. I can't imagine there are many 15-year-olds | :59:12. | :59:15. | |
who are sliding skeleton at the moment? Ashley being based in Munich | :59:16. | :59:23. | |
means that the trucks are closer to her, but she slides for the British | :59:24. | :59:31. | |
team. She was fantastic and I am not surprised she won, particularly with | :59:32. | :59:38. | |
head coach. Two years, about too soon? I would say so, she is ten | :59:39. | :59:42. | |
years younger than me, but she is already a threat. She has the right | :59:43. | :59:47. | |
mindset and she's hugely skilled. Let's turn the attention to the | :59:48. | :59:56. | |
final event four man Bob. It has been all change in the British come. | :59:57. | :00:02. | |
The last time Britain won in this competition was 1939. The world has | :00:03. | :00:07. | |
changed a fair bit since then. And it has been all change in the | :00:08. | :00:11. | |
British camp of late. John Jackson, a Royal Marines commando and a | :00:12. | :00:16. | |
familiar presence in top British bobsleigh since his World Cup debut | :00:17. | :00:21. | |
in 2007 is out of favour. At these championships, he pilots GB 2. | :00:22. | :00:26. | |
Being in the number two seed is something I'm not used to. The two | :00:27. | :00:37. | |
teams we had weren't compatible. Every time I had a team that was | :00:38. | :00:43. | |
equal I beat him. But when I couldn't it was difficult to know | :00:44. | :00:47. | |
why I'm here, I have a young family at home and a wife who is pregnant. | :00:48. | :00:52. | |
What am I doing this for? But the athlete inside you wants to continue | :00:53. | :00:56. | |
because I know I can win medals. In his place is Lamin Deen, a Mancunian | :00:57. | :01:00. | |
and Grenadier Guards man, who threw his absence with injury, has slowly | :01:01. | :01:05. | |
and surely established his driving credentials, showing the patience of | :01:06. | :01:09. | |
a man used to serving in silence outside Buckingham Palace. That | :01:10. | :01:14. | |
discipline has been rewarded and his fast times mean he get the nod for | :01:15. | :01:19. | |
pilot MGB one Changing of the Guard indeed. From last year we finished | :01:20. | :01:29. | |
fifth in Winterberg. -- GB one. Myself on the team have learned how | :01:30. | :01:33. | |
to deal with being in certain positions. Through the seasons we've | :01:34. | :01:39. | |
had some close results, close to the medals, four hundredths off a metal | :01:40. | :01:43. | |
in Lake Placid. It has taught us a big lesson, enjoy the sport and have | :01:44. | :01:49. | |
fun and what will be will be with the result. What's it going to take | :01:50. | :01:54. | |
in this track in these four runs you have ahead of us to make the jump | :01:55. | :01:58. | |
from where you have been in the past up onto the podium? Consistency. | :01:59. | :02:03. | |
Consistency on the Bush especially, as it is a very short track. Usually | :02:04. | :02:11. | |
the fastest starting crews win or are in the middle -- consistency on | :02:12. | :02:15. | |
the push. What is the realistic expectation for the four-man bob? We | :02:16. | :02:20. | |
set the target of a top six finish, training has gone well and we always | :02:21. | :02:23. | |
try and do the best we can and if we get top six I will be delighted. At | :02:24. | :02:27. | |
the moment you have Lamin Deen driving that. What has he shown to | :02:28. | :02:32. | |
you to deserve the number one seed? Lamin Deen has done well this year, | :02:33. | :02:35. | |
fourth place in a couple of World Cups so he has done extremely well | :02:36. | :02:39. | |
and Jack is in the number two sled. Both of the crews are capable of | :02:40. | :02:46. | |
starting in the top six. We have two sleds that could push us forward. | :02:47. | :02:50. | |
How difficult will it be to hang on the number one seat? First of all it | :02:51. | :02:57. | |
is fantastic when I started as a brake man, a push man, there were | :02:58. | :03:03. | |
lots of pilots and into team competition and we haven't had that | :03:04. | :03:07. | |
for a while but now we have. It is fantastic for the team and it boosts | :03:08. | :03:12. | |
everyone. We had good team results last week, both of those guys are in | :03:13. | :03:17. | |
my crew this week. They are expecting a bit more of the same, as | :03:18. | :03:23. | |
we all are. As current World Cup leader Max Hart of Germany chose to | :03:24. | :03:32. | |
start second -- Art. But they lost time on the short track and ended | :03:33. | :03:38. | |
the first run down in fifth place. -- Arndt. That mistake left the door | :03:39. | :03:42. | |
open for Maximilian Arndt's team-mate Friedrich, the three-time | :03:43. | :03:47. | |
champion in the two men can petition to lead the way after all 34 sleds | :03:48. | :03:50. | |
had completed the track. Friedrich broke the track record by 15 | :03:51. | :03:56. | |
hundredths of a second going to run two. And a third German sled, driven | :03:57. | :04:02. | |
by Nico Walther, silver-medallist last year, lying in third with | :04:03. | :04:09. | |
Russia's Alexander Kasjanov in second. Lamin Deen, Bruce Tasker, | :04:10. | :04:13. | |
Joel Fearon and Ben Simons had been terrifying the competition with | :04:14. | :04:18. | |
their start time in training but were slightly disappointing in | :04:19. | :04:21. | |
competition recording a time of five seconds dead. They remain in touch | :04:22. | :04:26. | |
with the leaders, just 0.25 seconds away from Friedrich's time in sixth | :04:27. | :04:31. | |
place. John Jackson, Bradley Hall, John Baines and Andrew Matthews | :04:32. | :04:35. | |
completed a good run on a deteriorating track to finish in | :04:36. | :04:42. | |
15th. You know this by now, run two sees the top 20 go in reverse order. | :04:43. | :04:48. | |
So, John Jackson took advantage of a fresher track and moved up two | :04:49. | :04:52. | |
places to 15th place and then it started to get interesting. Another | :04:53. | :04:57. | |
good start but a great drive from Lamin Deen set a challenging target | :04:58. | :05:01. | |
for the five sleds to follow. It was a time that Maximillian Art and Rico | :05:02. | :05:05. | |
Peter could not match and it was a time that brought out the best in | :05:06. | :05:13. | |
Kasyanov. Neither could match the second run time of Deen and stayed | :05:14. | :05:16. | |
ahead of the British crew by the thickness of their micro suits. | :05:17. | :05:20. | |
Lagisquet Friedrich is the overnight leader, an erratic but fast drive | :05:21. | :05:24. | |
from the German meaning he has a 0.27 lead. But only six 100th of a | :05:25. | :05:31. | |
second separating second to sixth. Today could be very, very | :05:32. | :05:37. | |
interesting. Friedrich was wild in his second run | :05:38. | :05:41. | |
but almost doubled his first heat advantage. 27 hundredths might be | :05:42. | :05:46. | |
insurmountable, look at the gaps from second down to nine. Those | :05:47. | :05:51. | |
eight sleds, any one of those could easily take a medal. There are 22 | :05:52. | :05:56. | |
hundredths of a second, second to ninth, less than there is to win | :05:57. | :06:02. | |
first and second. Francesco Friedrich. Watch the start. They had | :06:03. | :06:13. | |
issues here last night. Clean, Conservative, 5.04. Teddy Bauer was | :06:14. | :06:25. | |
told to lose 30 lb and he did just that and now they say he might be | :06:26. | :06:28. | |
one of the best athletes in the field. Wedding or season for him to | :06:29. | :06:34. | |
be fully fit again and he's back doing such a great boost at the | :06:35. | :06:39. | |
start. Looking skittish at the Kreisel. Look at the ice, in some | :06:40. | :06:45. | |
places there is water on the ice. It is very slick, different from last | :06:46. | :06:48. | |
night. Don't forget how loose he was last night and how fast that made | :06:49. | :06:53. | |
him. He's throwing everything at this. I don't know if it is the | :06:54. | :07:02. | |
track. 51.39. It's almost like coming through a water splash at the | :07:03. | :07:03. | |
bottom. Francesco Friedrich is the leader. | :07:04. | :07:20. | |
Nico Walther 27 hundredths behind, the first of a close group. We will | :07:21. | :07:31. | |
see if they have a Conservative run. 5.03, 5.06 knowing that Friedrich | :07:32. | :07:39. | |
has 5.10. 5.07 so that tells me that Francesco Friedrich and his team | :07:40. | :07:42. | |
were conservative at the start because they have a lot of time in | :07:43. | :07:47. | |
the bank, which this guy here, as the Russians 100th behind him and | :07:48. | :07:53. | |
five other sleds 0.1 behind him. It gives you the option to be careful | :07:54. | :07:58. | |
with things rather than having to push everything 101% to chase. | :07:59. | :08:07. | |
Pulling out at the straightaway. Friedrich was skittish. That is not | :08:08. | :08:11. | |
skittish, that is as straight as you can be. He is on the money here. | :08:12. | :08:17. | |
Still losing a little bit of time. 30 300s back, 37 behind. -- 33 | :08:18. | :08:26. | |
hundredths of a second. That's the best he's been on either run. | :08:27. | :08:34. | |
Alexander Kasjanov of Russia. Kasyanov definitely the best of the | :08:35. | :08:41. | |
Russian drivers. He has a chance to take a medal, maybe even silver. -- | :08:42. | :08:52. | |
Alexander Kasjanov. Start, 5.05 in both runs yesterday. This guy had | :08:53. | :09:01. | |
unbelievable speed at the bottom of the track. He's the hard luck | :09:02. | :09:05. | |
athlete in the field, finishing fourth in both of the two-man | :09:06. | :09:10. | |
competitions in Sochi but he won his first Salt Lake City a few weeks | :09:11. | :09:16. | |
ago. He has a chance if he has the lines at the bottom of the track he | :09:17. | :09:22. | |
had last night. 100th behind Nico Walther still bleeding time. He's | :09:23. | :09:30. | |
one tenth behind where Nico Walther was at that spot so the gap is | :09:31. | :09:35. | |
opening up in the top spot. Still third on the split times. Nico | :09:36. | :09:42. | |
Walther 32 hundredths behind will stop from the hundredth to 11 | :09:43. | :09:55. | |
hundredths. He has two more teams coming up, three more teams, four | :09:56. | :09:59. | |
more teams that could challenge for the bronze medal position. Next up | :10:00. | :10:06. | |
Great Britain's Lamin Deen with them Symons and driver Bruce Tasker who | :10:07. | :10:10. | |
took fourth place in the two-man competition and Joel Fearon on the | :10:11. | :10:13. | |
back of the sled. This could be a massive step up for the British | :10:14. | :10:19. | |
team. Great Britain has not won a four-man medal in 77 years. It is | :10:20. | :10:26. | |
hard to believe we are talking about over three quarters of a century. | :10:27. | :10:32. | |
They could get in the fours here. 5.01, awesome. This sled had more | :10:33. | :10:37. | |
speed than anybody on the top part of the track and I think that is | :10:38. | :10:40. | |
related to the sprinters Great Britain have in their eating great | :10:41. | :10:46. | |
power onto the sled. Last bronze medal in 1904 Great Britain's | :10:47. | :10:55. | |
four-man effort last century -- Nagano. Behind only Francesco | :10:56. | :11:05. | |
Friedrich. He is narrowing the gap. The Grenadier Guards from Manchester | :11:06. | :11:09. | |
hangs it out just a fraction too much and rolls it out of Corner | :11:10. | :11:13. | |
nine, horrible run down the labyrinth, they will make it down to | :11:14. | :11:19. | |
the finish line. But for the chance of a medal you have to push with | :11:20. | :11:23. | |
every iota and Lamin Deen was trying to let it fly, he was in second spot | :11:24. | :11:28. | |
on the splits. He comes down with a time of FT 3.2 to -- 50 3.2 to. This | :11:29. | :11:38. | |
is the exit. This is nine where he made the mistake, he came down to | :11:39. | :11:42. | |
early and then the sled goes back up. We have not seen anybody up | :11:43. | :11:47. | |
there like that in the whole two weeks, even in the two man. Joel | :11:48. | :11:54. | |
Fearon has his helmet off, Bruce Tasker, you can see Lamin Deen. This | :11:55. | :12:04. | |
is the high wire walk that every team does, that fraction between | :12:05. | :12:12. | |
success and disaster. The 32-year-old landscape gardener. A | :12:13. | :12:25. | |
lot of Swiss fans down here and we are not too far from the centre it's | :12:26. | :12:34. | |
track. 5.05 is awesome. -- St Moritz. Rico Peter likes to hit a | :12:35. | :12:40. | |
lot of walls but finds a way to be fast. He likes it fast and loose, | :12:41. | :12:46. | |
his sled. He doesn't mind if he makes a couple of skids as long as | :12:47. | :12:49. | |
he has top speed. The track is so short that speed is hard to find. He | :12:50. | :12:55. | |
has gone from 35 down to 33. He's eating into that. He is fourth on | :12:56. | :13:02. | |
the time she'd. He is flying. Up to third place. -- time sheet. That is | :13:03. | :13:10. | |
not good. That was very high. Still flying, he hits everything in sight | :13:11. | :13:14. | |
and he's still fast. Moving into second place. On the split times. | :13:15. | :13:26. | |
Wow! Oskars Melbardis. Until yesterday his team was the start and | :13:27. | :13:32. | |
track record holder. They are going to go for it, this could be in the | :13:33. | :13:37. | |
4.98 area. Look at the size of the guys on the right. 4.99. He had to | :13:38. | :13:49. | |
start late. He had to start in the first heat in 19th because he missed | :13:50. | :13:55. | |
three races with a back injury. They fought back in the second run with | :13:56. | :14:00. | |
the third best time. This is the movie heat in the World | :14:01. | :14:04. | |
Championships. Look at the surface of the ice, the sheen has gone. You | :14:05. | :14:09. | |
can see it is Matt ice in some places. Watch out if this gets into | :14:10. | :14:14. | |
the teens. Already up to third place on the split times, challenging for | :14:15. | :14:17. | |
the gold-medal. This track is getting faster. This is sensational, | :14:18. | :14:22. | |
when you start the fastest first they should spread the field out. He | :14:23. | :14:26. | |
is closing, he's ahead of Rico Peter, 18 hundredths away from the | :14:27. | :14:38. | |
lead. 17 hundredths back. Wow! John Jackson of Great Britain, whole, | :14:39. | :14:46. | |
Baines, who competed in the two-man competition and Matthews on the | :14:47. | :14:49. | |
back, and his former trainer Linford Christie was here at the track | :14:50. | :14:52. | |
yesterday to catch up with what Andy has been up to -- Hall. The Royal | :14:53. | :14:57. | |
Marines Commander coming back from a year away from the sport through | :14:58. | :15:04. | |
injury last season. I think he finished in fifth place at the other | :15:05. | :15:07. | |
big games in Sochi just two years ago. 5.12 start. That is pretty much | :15:08. | :15:14. | |
what they did last night, the 17th best time. He drove down in 13th | :15:15. | :15:21. | |
best place. Any time you improve your start time you are doing the | :15:22. | :15:30. | |
driving well. 13 spot overnight, moving up to the top ten would | :15:31. | :15:33. | |
require a couple of tenths of a second. 18 hundredths of a second | :15:34. | :15:39. | |
back to the top time. Still bleeding. This is where he knows how | :15:40. | :15:45. | |
to go fast. He's a very accomplished pilot. His team-mate Lamin Deen | :15:46. | :15:54. | |
towards the bottom of the run came off. Canny move up to 11th? He grabs | :15:55. | :16:01. | |
11th place. He had the worst start time of the run and the ninth best | :16:02. | :16:05. | |
time. That's what John Jackson can do. He can drive. | :16:06. | :16:13. | |
From a British point of view, that was absolutely horrendous to watch | :16:14. | :16:23. | |
GB 1 turnover. We know they are OK, but what went wrong? Corner nine is | :16:24. | :16:29. | |
particularly difficult. Lamin had too much height going into the | :16:30. | :16:35. | |
corner. The centre of gravity is high, so it's easy to tip them over. | :16:36. | :16:38. | |
The shame was that they were in silver medal position at the point | :16:39. | :16:45. | |
of the track. Now they are sitting in the changing room, how can they | :16:46. | :16:49. | |
react, as an athlete, to what might have been? Huge disappointment, but | :16:50. | :16:54. | |
it is a huge reminder how difficult sport and bobsleigh is. It is two | :16:55. | :16:58. | |
years until Pyeongchang and that still has to be their goal. Let's | :16:59. | :17:03. | |
hope that disaster fuels their trading between now and the | :17:04. | :17:07. | |
Olympics. GB 2 are still very much running. Huge drama, Lamin Deen | :17:08. | :17:16. | |
crashed out and does not make the final run. John Jackson does, with | :17:17. | :17:23. | |
Brad Hall and John Baines. They are joined by Andy Matthews on the back. | :17:24. | :17:29. | |
They had some problems in the posh part. He doesn't set his feet, like | :17:30. | :17:35. | |
most of the drivers, but he missed the posh part. At the bottom, he had | :17:36. | :17:37. | |
some blood on his hands. He had the 10th best downtime. He | :17:38. | :17:52. | |
needs another blinding run, like that. With the changing ice, who | :17:53. | :17:59. | |
knows what might be coming? No more bleeding of the time allowed. Six | :18:00. | :18:06. | |
hundredths ahead from the first heat. This is where I trust him, at | :18:07. | :18:10. | |
the bottom part of the track. Get into a little scared. The mistake | :18:11. | :18:18. | |
before ten might cost him. It's going to be close. -- a little | :18:19. | :18:24. | |
scared. Just came down three miles in just six kilometres. | :18:25. | :18:29. | |
They are separated by five hundredths of a second. | :18:30. | :18:41. | |
Next up, Benny Meir of Austria. Third fastest on his last trip. | :18:42. | :18:55. | |
There he is on the right, checking himself out in the TV monitors. Will | :18:56. | :19:00. | |
they lead after this run, all will the Austrians see the top six finish | :19:01. | :19:02. | |
or maybe more? This young 21-year-old phenom has | :19:03. | :19:11. | |
come out of nowhere in the last two weeks. Two weeks ago he won a World | :19:12. | :19:16. | |
Championship and silver medal. Everybody was shocked, the | :19:17. | :19:23. | |
Austrian's first medal for 17 years, the first World Cup medal in over a | :19:24. | :19:25. | |
decade. There was only 100th of a second in | :19:26. | :19:32. | |
it. This kid has some talent on his Home | :19:33. | :19:45. | |
Track. She is only 21, only been driving three years. | :19:46. | :19:49. | |
This could be a massive moment for Austrian bobsledding. If he puts | :19:50. | :19:57. | |
himself in the lead now, who knows what might come? 51.16, what a run! | :19:58. | :20:05. | |
That is as quick as anybody who has been down this track today. | :20:06. | :20:17. | |
What about 25-year-old Valter? He hasn't had all of his starts in the | :20:18. | :20:28. | |
top ten fastest. Known in the half dozen top. They have had a suspect | :20:29. | :20:33. | |
Star Times as well. -- start times. His team went better | :20:34. | :20:42. | |
than they did in the third run. A disastrous two-man competition. | :20:43. | :20:58. | |
Eight hundredths up after the first three heats. Down to five. Maier is | :20:59. | :21:07. | |
quick at the bottom. My goodness, here we go. Down to three. The | :21:08. | :21:11. | |
Austrians at the bottom are going to go even more mental. Walther is not | :21:12. | :21:19. | |
going to hold the lead. It's going to be perilously close. Final | :21:20. | :21:26. | |
corner, beats the Austrians. Just enough. There is a chance to win a | :21:27. | :21:36. | |
medal. I tell you, Walther has been in a slump. That was a great drive | :21:37. | :21:40. | |
on the bottom part of the track, when he was losing time all the way | :21:41. | :21:42. | |
to the corner. Switzerland are third, Latvia | :21:43. | :21:58. | |
second. This Swiss team has been very consistent at the start. The | :21:59. | :22:07. | |
32-year-old driver, he unleashed his pinball Wizard technique that has | :22:08. | :22:10. | |
won him so many fast runs this season. Will he do it again? | :22:11. | :22:19. | |
The Swiss precision start. Fastest of their competition. He hits | :22:20. | :22:27. | |
everything in sight and comes down as fast as anybody. He was a little | :22:28. | :22:37. | |
off the pace in the last heat. Second fastest. The Swiss always do | :22:38. | :22:45. | |
well on this track. Never won a World Championship medal. Usually | :22:46. | :22:50. | |
drivers are up on their slides and mistakes, we pick them up with Rico | :22:51. | :22:57. | |
Peter because it seems to make him quicker! The lines are not fast, but | :22:58. | :23:00. | |
this is going to be at least a bronze medal for Rico Peter. He will | :23:01. | :23:05. | |
put himself onto the podium with a great run. They 10th of a second | :23:06. | :23:08. | |
quicker than his last trip. His coaches exuberant. There will be | :23:09. | :23:22. | |
pleased with that. 17 hundredths separate the fastest two after three | :23:23. | :23:30. | |
of four heats. Chasing from behind, the ninth fastest in the third heat, | :23:31. | :23:37. | |
third quickest in the second, and then he blew the field away with | :23:38. | :23:39. | |
this third trip. These guys are going for the gold, | :23:40. | :23:45. | |
they could get 497. 28 on Wednesday, what a birthday | :23:46. | :23:59. | |
present this could be. He was a rocket ship on the third run. 19th | :24:00. | :24:06. | |
position, he has only done half the World Cup season. That happened in | :24:07. | :24:09. | |
his first run. When he got into contention, nothing held him back. | :24:10. | :24:16. | |
He won the World Cup title last year. He got injured earlier in the | :24:17. | :24:23. | |
season. This would be quite a way to finish the season. Only three | :24:24. | :24:32. | |
hundredths in front of Peter from the first heat. This is about gold. | :24:33. | :24:40. | |
Is this a shot for gold? The fastest heat of the competition. The only | :24:41. | :24:42. | |
man below 51 seconds. One to go. Last year's overall team | :24:43. | :24:59. | |
and World Cup Championships winner, against a double two man champion. I | :25:00. | :25:10. | |
will correct that, a triple world champion in Friedrich. Can he add | :25:11. | :25:15. | |
his first-ever four man crown? 98 again. He was tied to 100th of a | :25:16. | :25:31. | |
second with his team-mate. The best start of the four heats and drove | :25:32. | :25:35. | |
himself into his fourth World Championship. He is the youngest | :25:36. | :25:39. | |
World Championship medallist ever. Nobody at this stage has ever had | :25:40. | :25:40. | |
three. 18 hundredths up after halfway | :25:41. | :25:45. | |
through the fourth. He lost a bit, there. It could come | :25:46. | :26:02. | |
down to a single digit margin. For hundredths of a second. Friedrich... | :26:03. | :26:14. | |
37 hundredths in front. The track goes away from the German. And | :26:15. | :26:23. | |
Oskars Melbardis, he has spent half the season on the bench, and he is a | :26:24. | :26:27. | |
world champion in four-man bobsleigh. Peter is in the medals. | :26:28. | :26:35. | |
Another double junior world champion. Oskars Melbardis, perhaps | :26:36. | :26:43. | |
the greatest day of his life as he takes the four-man World | :26:44. | :26:45. | |
Championship gold. How do you sum up the competition | :26:46. | :26:58. | |
for GB 2? We have had four consistent runs. At a new team, | :26:59. | :27:01. | |
we're still trying to work a couple of things out at the top of the | :27:02. | :27:05. | |
track. From the drives down, the way that the team has performed, we | :27:06. | :27:09. | |
could not ask for much more. In light of what happened to GB 1, does | :27:10. | :27:14. | |
that reignite your passion for the next year and onwards? Definitely. | :27:15. | :27:19. | |
It is all about finishing the race. It is just one of those things. Even | :27:20. | :27:26. | |
an easy track, you can not stop respecting the track. We just hope | :27:27. | :27:29. | |
it does not have funding implications. We are still in a bit | :27:30. | :27:35. | |
of shock after GB 1, have the guys worked out what has gone wrong? They | :27:36. | :27:39. | |
are still talking about it, I don't think it is the right time to go | :27:40. | :27:43. | |
through it. We will sit down after dinner and find out what went wrong. | :27:44. | :27:48. | |
We have just seen the most extraordinary end to the | :27:49. | :27:51. | |
competition, what could have been for GB 1? What could have been, but | :27:52. | :27:56. | |
it is what it is. We cannot change that. We will move forward, and be | :27:57. | :28:02. | |
stronger. We are a silver medal position, closing the gap, but there | :28:03. | :28:08. | |
are so many positives to take. This is it from us in Bad -- from us | :28:09. | :28:19. | |
here. But you don't have to wait long for your next fix. | :28:20. | :28:31. | |
So, can you sum up the weekend for British bobsleigh and skeleton? | :28:32. | :28:38. | |
Overall, it was a disappointing Championships. But good results in | :28:39. | :28:40. | |
training, athletes always progressing. Hopefully we can have | :28:41. | :28:48. | |
some success at the next Championships. We are looking | :28:49. | :28:51. | |
forward to seeing you out on the ice. Me to! There was disappointment | :28:52. | :28:58. | |
for British bobsleigh in Sochi, and we had to put up with more in | :28:59. | :29:01. | |
Austria. I tell you what, when British bobsleigh get this right, | :29:02. | :29:03. | |
they are so going to deserve it. | :29:04. | :29:07. |