British Bobsleigh’s Walker and Wilson make decent start
British Bobsleigh’s Paula Walker and Rebekah Wilson took to the ice this afternoon as the women’s bobsleigh began at the Olympic Winter Games in Sochi.
2011 World Junior Champions Walker and Wilson were looking to post a competitive time today in their opening run.
Walker was 10th overall in the Vancouver Olympic Winter Games of 2010 and, using that experience, the British duo started well enough. Despite a double tap early on in the run, they clocked a time of 58.36, putting them in 12th place.
The Canadian number one pair of Kaillie Humphries and Heather Moyse were first to go and set a new track record of 57.39, which was immediately broken by the second runners in the competition, their American counterparts in USA1. Elana Meyers and Lauryn Williams set a time of 57.26 and ended the heat in first place.
The Canadian duo placed second, while third was occupied by America’s second sled, containing Jamie Greubel and Aja Evans, with a time of 57.45.
Things remained the same for the British pair in the second heat as they posted a time of 58.40, keeping them in 12th place, 1.87 seconds off the American’s in first.
The top three retained their positions going in to tomorrow’s medal-deciding final runs with USA1 setting a new start record of 5.13 seconds on their second run.
British Bobsleigh has its headquarters at the University of Bath where British athletes hone their starting skills on the unique push-start track.
The GB men were 23rd in their two-man event at the weekend.
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.
More information about British Bobsleigh can be found on their website.
For information about TeamGB visit their website.
For further information please contact the Team Bath press office at Matchtight Ltd at press@matchtight.co.uk or on 01225 383518.
