Photo: Australian Olympic Team
The seventh day of the Beijing Winter Olympics saw 10 Aussies take part in an action packed day where Australia claimed their third medal of the Games. The highlight of the day was the silver medal for Scotty James, to go with his bronze medal he won back in 2018.
Snowboarding – Men’s Halfpipe
Australia had two competitors in the men’s halfpipe final. Both Aussies made a brilliant account of themselves, with Scotty James winning the silver medal, while Valentino Guseli finished in sixth place.
The 16-year-old is at his first Winter Olympics and proved that he could become a mainstay in the sport at such a young age.
The final consisted of three runs, with each individual’s best run counted to their score. After the end of the second run, Australia was on top of the world, with James in first place, and Guseli in second place.
However, the cream eventually rose to the top in the third run with Ayumu Hirano pulling off an incredible final run, scoring 96 points to win gold. James beat one of the all-time greats along the way to finishing second, defeating halfpipe legend, Shaun White who announced this would be his last Winter Olympics.
Women’s Skeleton
The women’s skeleton competition got underway today with the first heats taking place. Australia’s Jaclyn Narracott put in a strong performance in both heats. After the first heat, Narracott was in second place, just 0.02 of a second behind first place.
After the second heat, the 31-year-old was in first position, thanks to two great runs in the heats. She currently leads by 0.21 of a second heading into the third heat.
The skeleton heats will continue on day eight, with the Australian in prime position to add to the growing medal tally at Beijing.
Women’s Super-G
The second event with a medal on offer for Australia on day seven, was the women’s super-giant slalom. Greta Small was the only Australian to take part in the alpine skiing event.
Small finished the race in 31st position, over three seconds behind the leader. This is her third Winter Olympic Games, with the 26-year-old first breaking onto the scene as a teenager in Sochi in 2014.
Cross-Country Skiing – Men’s 15km Classic
The men’s cross-country team was back at it on day seven as they took part in the 15km classic. It was a another difficult day at the office for the four Aussies involved. Seve de Campo was the best Australian, finishing in 72nd position, with the remainder of the team not too far behind him.
Phil Bellingham finished in 75th, just 26 seconds behind de Campo. While Lars Young Vik was right behind Bellingham, finishing in 76th, trailing the 30-year-old by just under four seconds.
The final Aussie was Hugo Hinckfuss, who rounded out the Australian contingent, finishing in 81st position, eight minutes behind the winner.
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Speed Skating – Men’s 500m
Brendan Corey was back in the speed skating today and was unable to match his heroic efforts from the 1000m earlier in the week. Corey faced a competitive opening heat that went down to the wire, and ended up finishing third in his heat.
Subsequently, he missed out on automatic qualification and would be forced to patiently wait to see if his time was fast enough to get through to the quarter-finals. After an agonising wait, he missed out on getting through to the next stage by a mere 0.079 of a second, in a time that was a personal best for the Australian.
Men’s Skeleton
The final Australian in action on day seven was Nicholas Timmings in the third and final heat of the men’s skeleton. The 31-year-old, in his maiden Winter Olympics had a tough start to his Olympic career, finishing off the pace in his first two runs earlier this week.
However, his final run was one to be proud of, Timmings set a personal best 1:01.78 in his last run. Unfortunately it wouldn’t be enough to elevate him into the final. At the end of the third heat, he we was in 25th and as a result didn’t qualify for the final.
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