Day 7, Part 4 Winter Olympics


Day 7, Part 4

Similar Content

Browse content similar to Day 7, Part 4. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!

Transcript


LineFromTo

Welcome to day seven. The day that Lizzy Yarnold says she has been

:00:42.:00:52.

dreaming of for the last five years. This is where she will do her

:00:53.:00:56.

preparation, this is where she will start. Her sled is called Mervyn.

:00:57.:01:02.

This is Valentine's Day, we are hoping you will spend date night

:01:03.:01:06.

with us. Lizzy Yarnold has a commanding lead at the halfway

:01:07.:01:10.

stage, two runs to come, the third is coming up very shortly. They're

:01:11.:01:15.

in mind this could be a little slice of British sporting history. In the

:01:16.:01:20.

last 90 years Britain has only 19 gold medals at the Winter Olympics,

:01:21.:01:24.

and one of the most famous was 30 years ago today when Torvill and

:01:25.:01:36.

Deen skated to success in Sarajevo. -- Deen.

:01:37.:01:44.

Always nervous before you compete. You need to feel aware of being

:01:45.:01:56.

nervous because it can be dangerous. It is the thrill and adrenaline I

:01:57.:02:03.

really love. As you walk to the start block, you have to be

:02:04.:02:07.

completely focused yet really exhilarated, ready to produce a lot

:02:08.:02:15.

of power and sprint really fast. As soon as I am into position I am

:02:16.:02:20.

completely relaxed and breathe out and let my body mould into the sled.

:02:21.:02:25.

I have come so far in a short three years. When I came into the

:02:26.:02:30.

programme Amy Williams had just won the gold medal and it was the same

:02:31.:02:33.

team she had around her that I now have around me so I slotted into the

:02:34.:02:41.

position in the amazing team that is British skeleton. Your mind just

:02:42.:02:50.

takes over, your peripheral vision and everything takes over. You are

:02:51.:02:54.

feeling the interaction between you and the ice, it is all your senses

:02:55.:03:01.

working at 100 mph. There is no perfect run, there is always

:03:02.:03:04.

something you could improve on, your speed, your line. It is not only

:03:05.:03:14.

about doing well against other athletes, it is seeing how good I

:03:15.:03:22.

can be against myself. Every session means everything, every single gym

:03:23.:03:27.

session, sliding session, I have got to be the best version of me I can.

:03:28.:03:38.

It is only my first Olympics so I am taking it one step at a time and I

:03:39.:03:56.

hope to perform at my best, and I am unbelievably motivated. Fingers

:03:57.:03:57.

crossed. We all have our fingers crossed.

:03:58.:04:12.

Most of us are more low this than she is. -- more nervous. We are on

:04:13.:04:19.

the northside of the mountains which is where you want to be for an ice

:04:20.:04:23.

cold trap. She will be skipping out as part of her warm up. There she is

:04:24.:04:31.

with Shelley Rudman, currently in 11th place. Lizzy Yarnold will go

:04:32.:04:36.

first, Shelley Rudman will go in 11th, all 20 will go in reverse

:04:37.:04:40.

order for the fourth run. The last three Winter games have delivered

:04:41.:04:45.

medals for this event, all of them women. Shelley Rudman took the

:04:46.:04:53.

silver injuring, and in Vancouver, they have been playing it four years

:04:54.:05:00.

ago, Amy Williams got the gold. Could Lizzy Yarnold follow? Amy

:05:01.:05:08.

Williams is with me now. You haven't even seen yourself on the screens. I

:05:09.:05:13.

have been busy doing other things and in the commentary box. They have

:05:14.:05:18.

been showing the Vancouver clips. I missed mine.

:05:19.:05:21.

How proud would you be if a woman who says you were her inspiration,

:05:22.:05:27.

who rent a flat from you in Bath, who you know really well, if she

:05:28.:05:30.

were to succeed? It would be amazing. I feel I have

:05:31.:05:37.

been a little tiny part of her journey, she is an awesome athlete,

:05:38.:05:42.

phenomenal, something really special inside of her, made up a bit

:05:43.:05:45.

different in the head, she works hard, and continues to be

:05:46.:05:50.

consistent. We are hoping all she does is to more consistent runs. I

:05:51.:05:54.

spoke to her last night, had a few text messages, she said how will I

:05:55.:06:02.

keep calm? I just said, go and have a good meal, put on your favourite

:06:03.:06:07.

DVD, get up, have a plan, she has had the whole day to think of

:06:08.:06:11.

something to do, have breakfast, relax, stretch, do what you always

:06:12.:06:16.

do and be consistent. We can see her at the top, she looks calm,

:06:17.:06:21.

collected and a champion already. She is determined to enjoy it and it

:06:22.:06:26.

helps when you love people you love around you. Matthew Pinsent has been

:06:27.:06:28.

catching up with her friends and family.

:06:29.:06:37.

How did she fit in? She is in the middle. A typical middle child? What

:06:38.:06:46.

is a typical middle child? Difficult, not quite as successful,

:06:47.:06:50.

annoyed because your parents look after the young one. What kind of

:06:51.:07:01.

system is she? A very committed, loving sister, she supports us in

:07:02.:07:07.

everything we do. How often do you watch a race? I have only seen her

:07:08.:07:14.

twice but mum and dad have watched her four times. As much as we can.

:07:15.:07:18.

What are you hoping for this evening?

:07:19.:07:23.

Her sisters are here, her parents, friends, and she comes from Kent

:07:24.:07:31.

originally, it now based in Bath. The full team around her, that Amy

:07:32.:07:37.

had. These are the scenes, the crowd getting very excited. Her sled is

:07:38.:07:44.

called Mervyn, named after a retired insurance underwriter. When she was

:07:45.:07:48.

young and working in a job she was asking her colleagues for support

:07:49.:07:53.

and he gave her ?176 for a sports bag and has aborted ever since and

:07:54.:07:57.

that is why it is called Mervyn. It really lovely story. One of the old

:07:58.:08:06.

ladies gave me money to buy a new helmet when I lived in Bath. It is

:08:07.:08:11.

about people helping you. We are looking at the course and the curves

:08:12.:08:15.

and the turns that have to be negotiated. The uphill sections.

:08:16.:08:21.

Very unique, three major uphill sections. If the athlete make a

:08:22.:08:26.

mistake they will slow down so much quicker for stop there is one the

:08:27.:08:31.

coming out of corner 11, Connor 12 and 13, it is really important they

:08:32.:08:37.

don't skid and hit and bleed the time. We can see the athletes

:08:38.:08:43.

warming up, a lot of them listening to music. Lizzy Yarnold changes her

:08:44.:08:52.

music, classical music to calm her down.

:08:53.:08:57.

It is all about going to be energetic, if the music pumps you

:08:58.:09:03.

up, you have then got to be Billy calm. We are seeing the start list.

:09:04.:09:16.

Lizzy Yarnold will go first. You get the worst ice later won but the

:09:17.:09:23.

dramatic finish. Lizzie will be up there all on her own in the start

:09:24.:09:28.

block. Left alone in the warm up area. You have just got to go out

:09:29.:09:34.

and perform to the very best. That is the start record. Lizzy Yarnold

:09:35.:09:42.

holds the course record. I am expecting them to go a lot quicker

:09:43.:09:46.

today. In the evening, the ice is colder, the air is colder. The Times

:09:47.:09:51.

could be up to half a second quicker. She has won four out of

:09:52.:10:00.

eight races. This is a different event. A normal event is to runs on

:10:01.:10:12.

one day. To be able to go out and perform four runs in two days,

:10:13.:10:20.

everyone of them counts. And here she goes. She has got to be

:10:21.:10:32.

on form. It is a good start. Her fastest start so far, you couldn't

:10:33.:10:35.

ask for anything more on the second day. Some athletes have come out

:10:36.:10:47.

exhausted. Up the hill. Three big uphill sections. Very steep. She is

:10:48.:11:00.

going well. Just looking at the time, 1.27.4, magnificent speed. She

:11:01.:11:10.

didn't go into a big slide, that is good news. Back down the hill for

:11:11.:11:14.

the final to write and turns. That is good. It is a track record,

:11:15.:11:33.

you couldn't ask for anything more. She has done it. 57.91 a brilliant.

:11:34.:11:47.

The ice is hard. It is colder than yesterday. This little tap on the

:11:48.:11:58.

left-hand side, that is the only obvious but that wasn't perfection.

:11:59.:12:04.

Such a powerful start. That is what she has got over this woman, the

:12:05.:12:07.

woman chasing her. That was brilliant. Be with us in an hour and

:12:08.:12:20.

a half. Pica 's pace. -- Noelle Pikus-Pace. A great starter. That is

:12:21.:12:32.

superb. That is lower than Lizzy Yarnold. -- slower. Not as quick as

:12:33.:12:45.

Yarnold. She is three quarters of a second behind, a massive margin.

:12:46.:13:00.

Pikus-Pace, very high on that one. Going well at the moment. Starting

:13:01.:13:09.

to pull this back in now. How much work can she do? She has made those

:13:10.:13:23.

tiny little mistakes. 0.78 of a second behind, wonderful news for

:13:24.:13:33.

Great Britain. As long as Lizzie holds onto her sled, she can win

:13:34.:13:39.

this. She would have two make some humongous fall not to retain that

:13:40.:13:48.

position. Let's not forget, there are still Nikitina and others to go.

:13:49.:14:01.

Some big names to come. It is not over yet, everybody has still got

:14:02.:14:06.

their first one. The confidence that has given to Lizzy. Elena Nikitina.

:14:07.:14:22.

This is happening at the finish, she cannot hear it. They are giving up a

:14:23.:14:35.

slight time deficit. That is a solid start. She does have the start

:14:36.:14:45.

record. She could pull this back in. She could, but she is skidding

:14:46.:14:52.

around. Losing a lot of time. Just slightly waiving all over the track.

:14:53.:15:07.

Nikitina, my goodness. She is not as heavy as Yarnold. She is not

:15:08.:15:11.

carrying as much momentum down the track. That is the experience of

:15:12.:15:21.

this track. She is a small girl. The momentum going down the track is not

:15:22.:15:29.

as great. Elena Nikitina is in third place. It is where you would expect

:15:30.:15:42.

her to be. She is virtually a whole second behind the leader, Lizzy

:15:43.:15:48.

Yarnold of Great Britain. This is really good news for Lizzy. It is

:15:49.:15:53.

going to be hard for anyone. If every slider that comes down has the

:15:54.:15:58.

best run of their life, to catch up on that time is huge. How far were

:15:59.:16:03.

you in the lead going into that final run? I think overnight, I had

:16:04.:16:09.

about 33 hundredths and then ended up winning by well over half a

:16:10.:16:14.

second. So for Lizzy to be 78 hundredths up is massive. Katie

:16:15.:16:24.

Uhlaender is quite a quick starter. She has a very low centre of

:16:25.:16:32.

gravity. She nearly made the women's weightlifting team in the 2012

:16:33.:16:36.

Olympics. Exceptionally powerful character. She has so much

:16:37.:16:43.

potential. Good slide so far. She is a bit unique, having her legs apart,

:16:44.:16:47.

but she is very still, especially with her shoulders and head. Lizzy

:16:48.:17:04.

Yarnold still leads. This is looking good for the Brit. Uhlaender has to

:17:05.:17:12.

stay within a second of Yarnold to go ahead of Nikitina. The Americans

:17:13.:17:18.

will be fighting to stay ahead of those Russians and into the medal

:17:19.:17:22.

zone. Looking like a good run from Katie, but it is such a big time to

:17:23.:17:24.

try and beat. She certainly enjoyed it. She pumped

:17:25.:17:44.

her fist at the end. But she is almost a quarter of a second down on

:17:45.:17:48.

Nikitina in the bronze medal position, and people are starting to

:17:49.:17:52.

cement their location now as to where they are going to finish.

:17:53.:17:54.

Lizzy Yarnold is looking exceptionally good for the gold,

:17:55.:18:05.

Pikus-Pace for the silver. It will be tough for anyone to claw back the

:18:06.:18:10.

lead but Lizzy has put down. It is almost an impossible task. What can

:18:11.:18:19.

the next Russian do? Olga Potylitsina. She is not a

:18:20.:18:26.

particularly quick starter Matt that is her problem. This is someone who

:18:27.:18:36.

is becoming comfortable with the big time. She looked a bag of nerves

:18:37.:18:44.

before the first run. She made mistakes yesterday. She will be

:18:45.:18:47.

gigging herself that, because it is she cannot necessarily pick up --

:18:48.:18:52.

she will be kicking herself for that. Not quite as high as the boys

:18:53.:19:09.

on that corner. She went around the turn superbly. She's not going to

:19:10.:19:18.

catch Yarnold. But she might just go ahead of Uhlaender here, or maybe

:19:19.:19:31.

the other Russian in third! Potylitsina is just short of third

:19:32.:19:37.

place. In fact, Uhlaender is fifth at the moment. It is going to be a

:19:38.:19:47.

battle between second, third and fourth place. Who will get the rest

:19:48.:19:51.

of the medals? It is very close between those sliders. We are

:19:52.:19:57.

getting excited here in the box, because Lizzy Yarnold is still in

:19:58.:20:03.

the lead. She leads by some margin. I am literally a bag of nerves. I

:20:04.:20:13.

have butterflies in my stomach. This is falling down a hill exceptionally

:20:14.:20:20.

fast on 80 tray with blades. They are very sophisticated pieces of

:20:21.:20:25.

equipment! But my point is, look how blunt these runners are. The

:20:26.:20:31.

possibility to mess up is still massive. Let's not put the gold

:20:32.:20:33.

medal round her neck yet. No. The vital point is for the athletes

:20:34.:20:58.

to choose their runners, the technical side. These are very good

:20:59.:21:12.

runs here, a lot cleaner than most of the guys we saw in the early

:21:13.:21:15.

races. The girls are really getting to Brits with this track. But it is

:21:16.:21:24.

very hard to make up such a time difference.

:21:25.:21:38.

Everyone is just getting further and further from the Brit right now.

:21:39.:21:46.

Each of these athletes stands less and less chance of getting into the

:21:47.:21:50.

medals. That is the truth of the matter. This was a great corner. If

:21:51.:21:59.

you stay in the corner too late, you get kicked into the wall. Yes, it

:22:00.:22:04.

means they are not catching the first pressure. It is all about

:22:05.:22:11.

control. It is centrifugal force. If you don't steer at all, you can go

:22:12.:22:22.

into the woodwork. Anya has had two runs which are world-class, within

:22:23.:22:32.

four hundredths of a second. What sort of speed can she get at the

:22:33.:22:36.

start? She has improved by three hundredths of a second from the

:22:37.:22:43.

first to the second start. It is slower. I would have thought she

:22:44.:22:49.

would be pushing more. She was fast over the last few years, and has

:22:50.:22:54.

just lost the edge she normally has. She is the bronze medallist from

:22:55.:22:57.

Vancouver mustard on the podium next to me. She is a very good slider,

:22:58.:23:02.

very technical. I thought she would be higher in these games, but she

:23:03.:23:06.

will pull it back as much as she can. If you remember the body shapes

:23:07.:23:14.

of those who won in 2002 in Salt Lake City, one skeleton was first

:23:15.:23:18.

reintroduced from 1948, where it was known as tobogganing, they were

:23:19.:23:22.

quite small and slender. But now they are big, powerful athletes. You

:23:23.:23:26.

need it. That is your engine at the start, and then you have just got

:23:27.:23:36.

gravity to help you. You could see her tapping her toes. But it is not

:23:37.:23:51.

quite enough. Anya Hueber is such a good slider. This is so unique, to

:23:52.:23:57.

have such big time differences 21st and second slider. I have never

:23:58.:24:03.

known a race like it -- to have such a difference between first and

:24:04.:24:14.

second slider. These uphill sections are separating the athletes who can

:24:15.:24:18.

and cannot drive. We have still got Shelley Rudman to come, a big

:24:19.:24:21.

British interest. Hopefully, she will have a good third run. I

:24:22.:24:31.

remember four years ago, when we had the fastest run on every attempt.

:24:32.:24:36.

Yes, Sarah Reid is a very good slider. I saw another Canadian at

:24:37.:24:44.

the bottom, cheering her on. Sarah is very compact on the sled, but

:24:45.:24:48.

again, a shorter, smaller athlete, but look how aerodynamic she is. She

:24:49.:24:54.

is very quiet on the sled, you can hardly hear any noise. Beautiful

:24:55.:25:00.

lines, feet together. I was about to say, just listen. You can hardly

:25:01.:25:11.

hear a word we say. The more you hear it scheduling, it means that

:25:12.:25:14.

those are digging into the eyes or it is going sideways. They dragged

:25:15.:25:19.

along the ice, slowing themselves down. This is one of the best runs I

:25:20.:25:25.

have seen. She has not skidded. She has beautiful, lean lines. It is the

:25:26.:25:35.

way you steer this. Some people do incredibly subtle steering with

:25:36.:25:42.

their hand. Which way did use direct? I steered through the

:25:43.:25:45.

shoulders, the main way of steering arm pushing into the sled through

:25:46.:25:55.

your shoulders. Only about one or two centimetres of the runner

:25:56.:25:59.

actually touches the ice at one point. The athletes dear to their

:26:00.:26:04.

knees, their feet and their head. You have got to have that balance of

:26:05.:26:08.

not steering too much but just enough to get those pressures. Sarah

:26:09.:26:18.

Reid finished over one second behind Lizzy Yarnold. We have Shelley

:26:19.:26:28.

Rudman coming up soon. She is down in 11th position. She is just

:26:29.:26:42.

warming up at the top. Sophia Griebel had the eighth fastest bush

:26:43.:26:49.

we have had so far. She is not a great starter -- the fastest push.

:26:50.:27:04.

That was a major uphill section taking a hit. Just that one hit out

:27:05.:27:30.

of Cornet 11. The pressure is pushing the athlete. You can hear

:27:31.:27:34.

the helmet skidding along the ice. The girls don't have such strong

:27:35.:27:38.

necks. The g-force pushes you right into the ice. It is very hard to

:27:39.:27:48.

keep your head up. That was a remarkable run by Lizzy Yarnold, the

:27:49.:27:54.

first time this track has ever been run in the skeleton by anybody under

:27:55.:28:02.

58 seconds. Just two more sleds, and then we see Shelley Rudman. Rudman

:28:03.:28:13.

is one point nine seconds behind. Bronze is possible for her. The

:28:14.:28:24.

target for her would be to get inside the top eight. She will

:28:25.:28:28.

definitely want to get into the top ten, and hopefully creep up a bit

:28:29.:28:40.

more. Marion Thees will have a bearing on Shelley Rudman's result.

:28:41.:28:49.

She is not a natural sprinter. She has not got a particularly good

:28:50.:28:53.

style. But she does find beautiful lines. She has slid for many years

:28:54.:29:09.

now. There is a whole cluster of Germans in eighth, ninth and 10th

:29:10.:29:12.

position, just ahead of Shelley Rudman, who we are about to see.

:29:13.:29:17.

Marion Thees is good at finding speed out of corners at the bottom

:29:18.:29:20.

of the track. It is never going to help her with the start, so she will

:29:21.:29:25.

never be a world-class performer at the top, which is unfortunate for

:29:26.:29:31.

her. She crashes against the left-hand side, as so many have done

:29:32.:29:34.

before her. The time is not exceptional. Marion Thees is

:29:35.:29:51.

considered by many to be the best pilot of all, just doesn't have the

:29:52.:29:55.

start. It is like having a beautiful car without the engine, I'm afraid.

:29:56.:30:03.

Lizzy Yarnold is not quite the fastest, but because of that power

:30:04.:30:06.

start all the way down, she is virtually the fastest. You can see

:30:07.:30:20.

her there. Valentine's Day, a great day to be racing on. I am here with

:30:21.:30:29.

both of you! Here we are, Shelley Rudman. Shelley Rudman goes for

:30:30.:30:37.

Great Britain. Let's see what she can do. She will want to get in the

:30:38.:30:41.

top ten. I am sure she will improve on yesterday. 5.13 is not a good

:30:42.:30:50.

start. Not the best start. It will give her a start deficit. She will

:30:51.:30:59.

want to try and catch a cluster of Germans just ahead of her. She was a

:31:00.:31:10.

bit too high. She is getting it back on track. Just making tiny little

:31:11.:31:19.

mistakes. Away we go. She has got to minimise the force she comes off, a

:31:20.:31:31.

little tap there. She is losing speed. She has gone to 11th. She

:31:32.:31:40.

made a few mistakes. She said in training she had been struggling

:31:41.:31:47.

with the track. A solid run, but lots of little tiny mistakes. I am

:31:48.:31:55.

sure she will affect some of them. We will have to see what she thinks.

:31:56.:32:04.

On Valentine's Day, her partner went into a position. She has gone into

:32:05.:32:12.

11th. Her partner has got bragging rights on Valentine's Day. I am sure

:32:13.:32:17.

by the end of the fourth one she will be back up into 10th place,

:32:18.:32:21.

great for her to finish in the top ten. Her daughter is at home, this

:32:22.:32:31.

is Michelle Steele from Estonia. -- Australia. She is about one tenth

:32:32.:32:42.

behind Shelley Rudman. Really solid start. She comes from a life-saving

:32:43.:32:53.

back round, a very powerful athlete. Look how tiny she is, tax write in.

:32:54.:33:09.

-- she tucks right in. You want to have all your muscles in your legs,

:33:10.:33:13.

lower legs, you don't want a big upper body, you will block the

:33:14.:33:25.

airflow. Looks like she has had a cracking one. She is a bit high

:33:26.:33:31.

there, but a good, solid one. A little fan club for Michelle, I

:33:32.:33:51.

know her husband, he flew in a few days ago, he will be cheering him

:33:52.:34:02.

on. This is a big corner, 16, going downhill before you turn up the

:34:03.:34:12.

hill. Doshi sticker had and therefore aerodynamics? If you go in

:34:13.:34:18.

a bit late the g-force is even more pressure. They have to use

:34:19.:34:26.

peripheral vision quite a lot. The feeling of where you come into the

:34:27.:34:34.

corner. Here goes Janine Flock from Austria. The time, absolutely

:34:35.:34:44.

crucial. The second fastest so far. She had a really bad first start. So

:34:45.:35:02.

easy to miss the start up. You leap onto this trade wanting to stride

:35:03.:35:12.

away from you -- slide away. Your training is all about getting

:35:13.:35:14.

speed. She is just hitting on the

:35:15.:35:39.

right-hand side. Her coach at the bottom, also one of the best sliders

:35:40.:35:45.

in the world. She trains in Austria where there is a track. Every track

:35:46.:35:54.

is designed very differently. Your high g-force pressure track. This is

:35:55.:36:03.

very developed what she is used to. She has gone ahead of Shelley

:36:04.:36:20.

Rudman. She has gone from 13th position, but to 10th position. That

:36:21.:36:27.

was a huge slide by her. She was born in London. She has got fans in

:36:28.:36:31.

Bristol. What has she got? Five seconds dead.

:36:32.:36:43.

A good start. She has really improved. She has been sliding for a

:36:44.:36:53.

long time, hadn't had the same support or technology that other

:36:54.:36:56.

people have from some of the smaller nations. If she can do what Janine

:36:57.:37:04.

Flock just did, it would be a great result. This section is so steep.

:37:05.:37:20.

She was staying well away from the wall, but that time she thumped it

:37:21.:37:27.

hard. The big, main technical section is between five and 15.

:37:28.:37:35.

Really important you get your perfect lines in the middle section

:37:36.:37:40.

of the track and continued the speed through to the final few corners.

:37:41.:37:50.

She has finished 61 hundredths of a second behind Shelley Rudman. -- six

:37:51.:38:11.

one hundredths. You are struggling, she was a little bit wonky there.

:38:12.:38:27.

What sort of start have we got? 5.02. Very respectable. She is a

:38:28.:38:48.

good pusher. She hasn't been sliding for as long as some of the others.

:38:49.:39:01.

She has got a lot to learn. Good start.

:39:02.:39:15.

You try to steer through to get the flattest line. Very good line, one

:39:16.:39:21.

of the only athletes that didn't clip. That could mean she is driving

:39:22.:39:27.

too much, otherwise this is really good. Driving the bottom of this

:39:28.:39:39.

track really well. Shelley Rudman moves down another place. No, she

:39:40.:39:46.

doesn't. She has gone into 15th price. -- place. Another former

:39:47.:39:55.

sprinter, very good track and field athlete before turning to skeleton.

:39:56.:40:03.

You need that incredible athletic ability but you need that slight

:40:04.:40:08.

dose of craziness to do this. Not every track and field does well. Are

:40:09.:40:14.

you trying to say we are crazy? I used to be being called crazy, it is

:40:15.:40:27.

a very unique bought. -- sport. Huge G forces, speeds. You have to power

:40:28.:40:35.

away at the start, you need that muscle. That is something Hollins

:40:36.:40:42.

Worth doesn't really have. -- Mellisa Hollingsworth.

:40:43.:40:55.

She was the favourite four years ago. I was hidden away.

:40:56.:41:04.

Unfortunately the pressure got to her. She didn't have the

:41:05.:41:07.

performance. She has been fighting to get that back. She is a brilliant

:41:08.:41:21.

slider. These are some good, clean lines. A small little tap. Coming

:41:22.:41:38.

down the last bend. She is up into 10th place. In the world of skeleton

:41:39.:41:52.

she is a huge name. She is a legend. For raw five years ago she was the

:41:53.:41:57.

number one in the world. Lizzy Yarnold would have watched this on

:41:58.:42:02.

TV the last time and thought imagine being three seconds ahead? She is

:42:03.:42:09.

one of those girls you always wanted to be like. A good 15 years behind

:42:10.:42:22.

her, so much experience. Mellisa Hollingsworth, the 10th fastest of

:42:23.:42:28.

this slide. She moves into 16th place. This is Lucy Chafer of

:42:29.:42:46.

Australia. Tremendous support. Not a particularly big start. If you have

:42:47.:42:57.

just joined us, Elizabeth Yarnold of Great Britain is very much leading

:42:58.:43:01.

the limit games here with one run to go. -- Olympic Games. So much that

:43:02.:43:10.

goes into the skeleton, that nobody else sees, they technology, the

:43:11.:43:15.

runners, spending hours in winter perfecting your position. They would

:43:16.:43:21.

have all spent hours on their slats, polishing their runners-up, getting

:43:22.:43:26.

the scratches out. Selling the race bibs, making them small -- selling.

:43:27.:43:34.

A lot of preparation goes into every single run.

:43:35.:43:53.

Solid slide. You were just saying all the different elements. There is

:43:54.:44:02.

physics, value go down a mountain. It is a bit of a dark art. You have

:44:03.:44:08.

to get this alleged right. The way it hits off the wall -- the sled

:44:09.:44:17.

right. There is so much that goes into this sport. I could spend hours

:44:18.:44:25.

talking to you about it. There is a big science behind it. Huge amounts

:44:26.:44:32.

of technology that goes into the sled.

:44:33.:44:42.

Gilardoni is chasing everybody else in front of her. Great start. Herb

:44:43.:44:57.

coach was my coach in Vancouver. She struggles around getting her head

:44:58.:45:04.

around the fact she is at the Winter Olympics. I hope she has gone away,

:45:05.:45:12.

had a good nights sleep, got into a better psychological place. That was

:45:13.:45:26.

coming out of the corner on that straight. Very hard for the athletes

:45:27.:45:31.

to get the correct angle to be able to get into that corner. 58.77. That

:45:32.:45:42.

is a very good side. She was into last. We have got two more of them

:45:43.:45:51.

to go. Japan and Rumania, both have a huge time advantage to Lizzy

:45:52.:46:01.

Yarnold. We can safely say that into the final run, Lizzy Yarnold will

:46:02.:46:05.

not be just in the gold medal position, but I is very big margin.

:46:06.:46:15.

This is hers to lose. She will be sitting down and doing all of her

:46:16.:46:20.

warm up and going through that process of keeping in the right

:46:21.:46:31.

headspace. She certainly has a lot to catch up on. Nozomi Komuro. She

:46:32.:46:37.

finished in 15th place at the World Championships. She mistyped on 2013

:46:38.:46:44.

for some reason. She was loaded beautifully, there. Incredible

:46:45.:46:50.

dexterity, very quick. That was just about perfect at the start. She does

:46:51.:46:55.

not have the pace, the top end speed of the likes of Lizzy Yarnold. The

:46:56.:47:04.

changeover was solid. Up the hill. Nice bit of sliding from Nozomi

:47:05.:47:14.

Komuro. Almost touching the roof. She comes around. And that was

:47:15.:47:21.

tricky as well. But waving about. 3.15 seconds behind Lizzy Yarnold.

:47:22.:47:30.

She has taken a little skid, there. 4.2 seconds behind the leader.

:47:31.:47:44.

59.24. Her coach seems delighted with that, although she stays in

:47:45.:47:52.

19th position. Certainly her best time of the season. -- the series.

:47:53.:48:02.

Here is the exit of 11. Going sideways. That was nasty. That would

:48:03.:48:09.

be worse in a Bobsleigh. These runners are very round, except for a

:48:10.:48:14.

tiny little groove in the middle. You do not see so much I being

:48:15.:48:30.

kicked up. -- ice. Bye. Just trying to decide what she is wearing above

:48:31.:48:41.

the waist. She needs to be running much faster. The 13th fastest start

:48:42.:48:49.

of the athletes who have qualified. Slightly below average. Lizzy

:48:50.:48:54.

Yarnold was the second fastest of anybody, still hanging onto that

:48:55.:49:00.

lead by a massive margin ahead of Maria Marinela Mazilu. This is a

:49:01.:49:12.

less experienced, less solid athlete than the likes of Lizzy Yarnold. You

:49:13.:49:17.

can just see how tricky it is when they have less experience. Coming

:49:18.:49:23.

around this band, she has lost even more time, there. That was a big

:49:24.:49:31.

slam out of 11. Sideways, there. Fishtail out of 15. Not magnificent

:49:32.:49:49.

speed. 59.63. That was the slowest time of these 20. Britain is

:49:50.:49:59.

hopefully so close. About to get another skeleton medal and, like Amy

:50:00.:50:04.

Williams, hopefully it will be gold. We can watch the Romanians tapping

:50:05.:50:10.

on the right wall. That is metres of distance she has over second. The

:50:11.:50:21.

Russian down in third. We have had a medal in every single Olympic Games,

:50:22.:50:27.

not just since 2002, but with a bargaining, in 1928. David Carnegie

:50:28.:50:48.

and John Crammond. -- tobaganning. The girl of the moment, she does not

:50:49.:50:53.

just leave, but she leads by a very long way. Here is the great slide.

:50:54.:51:01.

You can see these following different lines. Noelle Pikus-Pace

:51:02.:51:08.

behind, waving, Wilder, that can sometimes be good. Ideally, flat

:51:09.:51:14.

around the corner but it does not always work out like that. These are

:51:15.:51:18.

the standings. Elizabeth and Arnold leading for great wooden. -- Lizzy

:51:19.:51:26.

Yarnold. Second place is Noelle Pikus-Pace. And then Elena Nikitina.

:51:27.:51:35.

Absolutely remarkable. On the second page, we will see Shelley Rudman,

:51:36.:51:49.

down in 13th position. For her, the goal is getting into the top ten.

:51:50.:52:00.

That margin can be caught, she can get top ten. She has already got the

:52:01.:52:06.

Olympic medal, she has done well just to get to these Olympics

:52:07.:52:13.

again, having had a child, etc. Join us again at nine o'clock. They will

:52:14.:52:18.

go in reverse order. Lizzy Yarnold will be last down. And she is in

:52:19.:52:24.

first place and that is absently superb, we're just having a look at

:52:25.:52:35.

these sliders. Third-place... Did not hit anything on the way down,

:52:36.:52:40.

Elena Nikitina. She got away to a blistering start. This was Noelle

:52:41.:52:47.

Pikus-Pace. Looking smooth and comfortable. Yes, there is Lizzy

:52:48.:52:55.

Yarnold. Powering over the end. Going into that gold medal position.

:52:56.:53:06.

Brilliant. Noelle Pikus-Pace, I got confused by the fact she came last.

:53:07.:53:11.

But she is destined to finish in second place. That is for sure. Or

:53:12.:53:19.

Elena Nikitina in the bronze medal position. The Russians will be

:53:20.:53:31.

hoping for a bronze. The advantage is over three quarters of a second.

:53:32.:53:36.

That is for Lizzy Yarnold. Why is it do you think there are such big

:53:37.:53:42.

gaps? And release apprised, I have never seen a race with such big

:53:43.:53:47.

gaps. But this track is just so unique, it has three uphill

:53:48.:53:52.

sections, no other track has uphill and that is when the athletes are

:53:53.:53:55.

making mistakes and that is just going to eat away at the times and I

:53:56.:54:01.

was shocked at how it really was uphill, downhill, and most flats are

:54:02.:54:08.

gradual. The key corner everyone is taking the hit on his corner number

:54:09.:54:13.

11. They are clipping that, some of them are hitting harder than others

:54:14.:54:16.

and quite if you have made mistakes into corner number five, and it is

:54:17.:54:21.

just bleeding time and it is really making those gaps between the

:54:22.:54:23.

athletes so much bigger than in other tracks. The one side who made

:54:24.:54:29.

no mistakes was Lizzy Yarnold, setting a track record. Let us look

:54:30.:54:34.

at this. Talk us through. The start was good. Really powerful, onto the

:54:35.:54:44.

sled quite early. It is key that she has clean lines, here. In the top

:54:45.:54:49.

corners. That will keep the speed going down. Her speed is always

:54:50.:54:54.

parallel. You see so many with the wide apart, her feet hardly move at

:54:55.:55:00.

all? People steer between shoulders and feet and Lizzy always has her

:55:01.:55:07.

shoulders pressed down. Feet together, very aerodynamic. She

:55:08.:55:11.

takes the head but she remains very parallel, no skidding. And she is

:55:12.:55:18.

picking up pace all the time. 85 mph? Yes, the technical section, you

:55:19.:55:24.

do not want to make any mistake there. She does not, she continues

:55:25.:55:29.

at speed into the bottom G-force corners. She keeps aerodynamic and

:55:30.:55:38.

look at that time. What I love about that is they are all excited, the

:55:39.:55:43.

whole team, but Lizzy Yarnold was like, all right, yes. She just loves

:55:44.:55:50.

the sport, I kept saying to her, keep happy, you have to be chilled

:55:51.:55:55.

out on the sled and that is wearing the performance comes from. Huge

:55:56.:56:00.

margin between her and others. Anyone else would have to have an

:56:01.:56:04.

absolute storm or for her to literally fall off. Her performance

:56:05.:56:10.

is a cut above the rest. One little bump. I guess the advantage, and

:56:11.:56:15.

Colin was talking about the bigger sliders, Lizzy Yarnold is physically

:56:16.:56:21.

eager. Also Noelle Pikus-Pace, but when they make a mistake, it can

:56:22.:56:25.

accentuate the difference? What is the ideal weight and size for the

:56:26.:56:31.

skeleton athlete? There is none. The new breed coming through our bigger

:56:32.:56:36.

and heavier, they have to remain aerodynamic. Is there any limit?

:56:37.:56:41.

There is a weight limit with the sled, minimum and maximum with it.

:56:42.:56:49.

Lizzy would have a minimum weight, 27 kilos, so she can be as heavy as

:56:50.:56:55.

she wants. I pushed a sled at 30 kilos and I had to be under 92. I

:56:56.:57:02.

was trying to get heavier in my body so I could have the lighter sled.

:57:03.:57:06.

Lizzy is one of the new breed who has a phenomenal push at the start

:57:07.:57:10.

and that means she can have a lighter sled and then the momentum

:57:11.:57:15.

of that body weight, if I was competing against, she would be 20

:57:16.:57:21.

kilos heavier. That is an amazing advantage in these downhill

:57:22.:57:23.

sections. But you must number, if she does take the hits on those

:57:24.:57:28.

uphill sections, she will slow down quicker. Compared to Shelley Rudman

:57:29.:57:36.

and yourself, is she the best British skeleton slider we have

:57:37.:57:43.

seen? Definitely the new breed. And she has done phenomenally well. Look

:57:44.:57:49.

at her. She watched me winning gold and she said, I will do the same in

:57:50.:57:52.

four years and was similar to me watching Shelley Rudman. That will

:57:53.:57:58.

be me. For me, every single decision of those four years was, will this

:57:59.:58:04.

make me when the gold medal? And Lizzy Yarnold has adopted that same

:58:05.:58:08.

thing. She has an awesome sprinting background, the great skeleton

:58:09.:58:12.

programme and she could be winning gold. This is the woman who inspired

:58:13.:58:18.

her. We have the wisdom of the reigning in champion. Will we see

:58:19.:58:23.

the next British Olympic champion in skeleton crowned this even? We will

:58:24.:58:27.

build up to that final run on BBC One so join us in just one minute or

:58:28.:58:38.

two. That is a magnificent start, her fastest so far. She is going

:58:39.:58:49.

well. Magnificent speed. This will set the benchmark. It is tremendous,

:58:50.:58:59.

the track record, you could not ask for anything more from Lizzy

:59:00.:59:00.

Yarnold.

:59:01.:59:03.

Download Subtitles

SRT

ASS