We’re well over halfway through the Winter Olympic schedule now, and boy hasn’t it been eventful so far.
We’re well over halfway through the Winter Olympic schedule now, and boy hasn’t it been eventful so far. Full of thrills and spills and shocks and surprises, from the closest ever finish in a skier cross, to an array of British medals, it’s been one action-packed event in Sochi.
And with the miserable weather here in the UK doing its best to dampen our spirits, we’ve been delivered a dose of sunshine from Russia with the winning of not one, but three Winter Olympic medals.
The first one came in the form of a pint-sized Bristolian called Jenny Jones. The 33-year-old threw down her best tricks in the women’s snowboard slopestyle to secure a historic bronze medal for Great Britain.
Her teammate Aimee Fuller went out in the semi-final, but the 22-year-old laid down an impressive performance nonetheless, proving she’ll be a force to be reckoned with in the future.
Beating the odds and the expectations
Similarly, in the men’s competition, Jamie Nicholls and Billy Morgan flew the flag for Great Britain, finishing in 6th and 10th place respectively. This was slopestyle’s debut in a Winter Olympic Games, and it’s safe to say it’s firmly put itself on the map.
Team GB’s second medal came from Lizzy Yarnold in the skeleton. This is an event that the UK has rather excelled at over the past few years, and it was gold once again at the Sanki Sliding Centre as the unstoppable 25-year-old destroyed the rest of the field by almost a second to secure the top spot.
Yarnold also ensured that the gold was kept in its rightful place after taking the crown from Team GB’s previous winner in Vancouver, Amy Williams.
Great Britain has now medalled in skeleton in the last four Winter Olympics – Sochi 2014 (Lizzy Yarnold), Vancouver 2010 (Amy Williams), Turin 2006 (Shelley Rudman) and Salt Lake City 2002 (Alex Coomber). Turin silver medallist Shelley Rudman was also competing alongside Yarnold, finishing in a respectful 16th place. Her fiancé Kristian Bromley finished in 8th place in the men’s competition.
And finally, curling. With a history of gold medals under our belt, it’s another winter sport that we Brits seem to excel at, so it’s pretty good timing that both our men’s and women’s teams will be bringing home medals.
After the women’s team led by skip Eve Muirhead triumphed over Switzerland to win bronze on Thursday, the men went one better to secure silver in the final match against a very impressive Canada. Dave Murdoch’s men can go home to Scotland with their heads held high knowing they have won the second ever medal for a male GB curling team since 1924.
So Team GB have already secured the medal target for Sochi set by UK Sport ahead of the Games, but now after both a curling bronze and silver, they have exceeded expectations and the target, equalling Great Britain’s best ever medal haul of four at the first Winter Olympic Games in Chamonix in 1924.
There is still plenty more to come however, and we could not be done with the medal tally just yet. With two more days of competition left. Keep an eye on Dave ‘The Rocket’ Ryding in the men’s alpine ski racing slalom later today, as well as John Jackson and his team in the four-man bobsleigh competition on Sunday.
What do you think of Team GB’s performance at the Games? Have your say in the comments section below.
