Great Britain have won their first medal at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang. 30-year-old Dom Parsons won bronze in men’s skeleton.
In a dramatic final run, Parson secured the third place after he already looked to have lost out on the podium. After the first two runs yesterday, he was in fourth place. A mistake by the then in second position Martins Dukurs, the Latvian who has won eight World Cup titles and five World Championships, and Parson’s best run pushed him into third place however.
Parson was not among the main medal contenders when he travelled to South Korea. He finished 10th in Sochi four years ago and has finished on the podium in the World Cup only once.
Even though team GB has won a medal every time skeleton has featured at the Winter Olympics, it is the first time since 1948 that the men’s team win one.
Following the victory, Parson was overwhelmed saying that “it hasn’t really sunk in yet, I thought I’d lost it after that fourth run. It felt like it’d had gone.”
“It’s been great. All the work we’ve put in has paid off.”
South Korea’s Yun Sung-bin won gold by a record 1.63secs and Nikita Tregubov, an Olympic Athlete from Russia, silver.