Australian Female Skeleton Silver Medalist Jaclyn Naracott.
The eighth day of the Beijing Winter Olympics saw seven Australian athletes compete over five different events in heats and finals. The biggest story of the day was the first ever sliding medal awarded to Jaclyn Naracott in the women’s skeleton final.
Women’s Skeleton
Jaclyn Naracott made history on day eight winning the first ever sliding medal for Australia while simultaneously giving Australia it’s most successful Winter Olympics campaign.
With the third and fourth heats to take place on day eight, she came into the third heat in first place with a track record of 1:01:79.
She was beaten by Hannah Neise from Germany by 0.62 seconds on her fourth and final run, luckily she had the buffer of 0.46 seconds or she would not have medalled.
Her strong early form was enough, giving the 31 year old the fourth medal of this games behind Jakara Anthony, Scotty James and Tess Coady.
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Mixed Snowboard Cross
One of the biggest stories today was when Belle Brockhoff, one of Australia’s favourite winter athletes of this games, was sent to hospital after crashing out of the snowboard cross quarter final. This was the debut games for the event.
The heat for the mixed snowboard cross had two Australian teams comprising of Belle Brockhoff and Cameron Bolton (Australia’s top team) and Josie Baff and Adam Lambert. With both Bolton and Lambert making strong starts, despite the snowy conditions, they finished first and third respectively.
Brockhoff and Baff then had to run the course when both crashed out.
However it was Brockhoff’s condition that was more pressing with medics attending to her while they put the race on hold. Brockhoff made contact with Lindsey Jacobellis’ (USA) board and fell. She was taken to hospital for imaging with a sore neck but was cleared of injury after receiving scans.
The event was plagued with issues from the outset with the pair of Baff and Lambert not even taking part in the event until the withdrawal of the Czech Republican team.
Women’s Monobob
Australian athlete Breeana Walker is still in medal calculations after a fantastic show of form in the series of training heats. She finished second in the last heat before the start of the finals on Sunday, finishing behind Laura Nolte from Germany.
Her time of 1:05:22 at the games was not even her best with four runs into the 1:04s ensuring her win the first three heats on Thursday and Friday.
She looks to be a contender for the medals in this event’s debut at the Winter Olympics.
Women’s Downhill Alpine Skiing
Greta Small participated in the first training portion of the Women’s Downhill Alpine Skiing event finishing in 28th position with a time of 1:36:40 which is just outside the time of the first finishing German Kira Weidle with 1:33:47.
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