British pair separated by one hundredth of a second after first run
University of Bath graduate and Mechanical Engineering PhD student and Dom Parsons made his Olympic debut this afternoon (Thursday 14 February) when the Team GB Skeleton athlete sped down the Sochi track.
Starting 13th 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.
Making few errors, Dom will be hopeful of improving as the competition progresses, having only been 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.
With the track temperature lower that yesterday’s women’s heats at a cool 4 degrees Celsius, the early pace 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 However, he was soon superseded by the Latvian brothers and favourites, Martins and Tomass Dukurs.
While not in medal contention, both British sliders will be hoping to quicken the pace in the second run after an encouraging start. They find themselves only 1.28 (Parsons) and 1.29 seconds (Bromley) behind early 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.
