University of Bath student in top ten on Olympic debut

14 February 2014

University of Bath graduate and Mechanical Engineering PhD student Dom Parsons will go into day two of the men’s Skeleton competition in the top ten.

Dom made his Olympic debut this afternoon (Thursday 14 February) when the Team GB Skeleton athlete sped down the Sochi track.

Starting 13th in his first heat at the Sanki Sliding Centre, Dom made a solid run and clocked a time of 57.23. That put him in 9th position, one hundredth of a second quicker than teammate Kristan Bromley.

In a very respectable run, Dom was only slowed down by clipping a side in the uphill section.

Former University of Bath employee Bromley, nicknamed Dr Ice, is competing in his last Olympics. Finishing 5th at Torino in 2006, Bromley, 41, set his best time yet on the Sochi track at 57.24 in his first heat.

With the track temperate lower that yesterday’s women’s heats at a cool 4 degrees Celsius, the early pace in the first heat was set by German first slider Frank Rommel as he rattled round the 17 turns in 57.19. However, he was soon superseded by the Latvian brothers and favourites, Martins and Tomass Dukurs.

In the second heat, both British athletes went faster than their first run.

Former sprinter Dominic Parsons gave himself a great chance with an explosive 4.66 start.

It was a good-looking run until turns 11 to 15 of the course when he got a little too high on a corner, causing him to take a clip on the exit which slowed his time. Crossing the line in 57.17 his total time at that point put him joint third.

After the conclusion of all the competitors’ second runs, Dom Parsons found himself in equal tenth with the Russian Tregybov, while Kristan Bromley was equal eighth with the Canadian slider Fairburn.

While not necessarily in medal contention, both British sliders will be hoping to quicken the pace in tomorrow’s final two runs (Saturday 15 February) after an encouraging start today.

They find themselves only 2.27 (Bromley) and 2.41 seconds (Parsons) behind the overnight leader, Russian Alexander Tretiakov.

British Skeleton has its headquarters at the University of Bath where British athletes hone their starting skills on the unique push-start track.

You can find a full schedule of the Sochi action featuring athletes with Bath links on the Team Bath website.

Catch the pick of the action on the big screen at the University of Bath Sports Training Village.

A full list of current standings is available on the Sochi website.

For further information please contact the Team Bath press office at Matchtight Ltd at press@matchtight.co.uk or on 01225 383518.

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