Gold and a brace of bronze medals during fine weekend for skeleton and bobsleigh athletes
Donna Creighton won the third gold of her career, there were medals for Kim Murray and Jerry Rice, and Mica McNeill equaled her best-ever World Cup result during another good weekend for athletes with the University of Bath-based British Bobsleigh & Skeleton Association (BBSA).
Creighton (pictured) took top spot at the latest North American Cup event in Lake Placid, a week after winning silver in Intercontinental Cup competition in Calgary.
Fellow skeleton athlete Rice won bronze in the men’s NAC race, matching Murray’s achievement on the Europa Cup circuit in Altenberg, Germany – that was the former long jumper’s first-ever international medal.
On the main World Cup circuit, Laura Deas finished on the extended podium as she placed sixth in the women’s race while team-mate Lizzy Yarnold was 15th. University of Bath Mechanical Engineering PhD student Dom Parsons, supported by the Team Bath Dual Career programme, was tenth in the men’s race and Jack Thomas was 18th.
Meanwhile, on the World Cup bobsleigh circuit, McNeill finished a fine seventh in the women’s two-man race on only her second appearance with former British 100m record holder Montell Douglas.
That was the best British finish since Aleasha Kiddle partnered McNeill to seventh in Konigssee 11 months ago. The result is a clear boost ahead of next week’s World Junior Championships and next month’s senior Worlds, both of which take place at German tracks.
Bruce Tasker and Joel Fearon were 13th in the men’s event but Lamin Deen and Ben Simons missed the cut for the second run as they finished 27th overall.
Deen enjoyed better fortunes the following day as he made his first cut in the four-man bob, going on to finish 14th out of 32 with Mark Lewis-Francis, Fearon and Simons.
GB’s second crew of Olly Biddulph, Greg Cackett, Andrew Matthews and Sam Blanchet finished 29th and therefore missed out on a second run.
Next stop for the World Cup tour is Konigssee in Germany, with the oldest artificial track on circuit also the venue for next month’s World Championships.
The British Bobsleigh & Skeleton Association athletes do their UK training at the University of Bath, working out in the EiS high-performance gym and practicing their starts on Britain’s only outdoor push-track. Click here to find out more.
