I THOUGHT I’D BLOWN IT
PAGES OF FANTASTIC Parsons snatches bronze for Britain’s first medal STARTS HERE Ian’s magic 15 minutes
DOM PARSONS grabbed Great Britain’s first medal of the Winter Olympics – after thinking he had blown it.
Parsons won bronze in the men’s skeleton and today defending champion Lizzy Yarnold and Laura Deas aim to follow him onto the podium in the women’s event.
But his fourth and final run was littered with mistakes, costing him vital fractions of a second.
Parsons looked set to finish outside the medals with two sliders to come. He needed a miracle – and the man called ‘The Wizard’ conjured one up.
Latvia’s Martins Dukurs made an even worse run to leave Parsons in third, 0.11secs ahead of the world champion.
Gold went to South Korea’s Yungbin Sun with an Olympic athlete from Russia, Nikita Tregubov edging out Parsons for silver by 0.02secs.
“I thought I’d lost it after that fourth run. It felt like it’d had gone, I thought I’d binned
from JAMES TONEY in PyeongChang it,” said Parsons. “I was pretty gutted after that run. I thought I had thrown it away with the mistakes I made.
“But Martins Dukurs made even more mistakes and he’s the last person I’d expect that from.”
Britain have now won medals in skeleton in five consecutive Games, although Parsons is Britain’s first men’s medallist in the event since John Crammond in 1948.
He added: “I’m very grateful that I got lucky. I’ve got to try to process what happened because it doesn’t seem real to me.”
Drinks
Not bad for a 100-1 shot who arrived in Korea nursing a thigh injury and who only took up the sport after a few drinks at a student barbecue. Yarnold and Deas were third and fourth going into today’s final two runs in the women’s skeleton. Yarnold was 0.10secs behind German leader Jacqueline Loelling, with Deas 0.17secs back. “This is the bit I love, going home and everyone getting all nervous, getting a great night’s sleep and then fighting again,” said Yarnold. “I’m an athlete that loves to compete at big events when everyone is bringing their best. I think I am still in the mix. “The big goal, which is frightening to say sometimes, is still to be the first British Winter Olympian to retain a title. It’s won’t be easy but I won’t be giving up.” ¬Ê Watch Lizzy Yarnold and Laura Deas from 11.20am today on Eurosport 1. Don’t miss a moment of the Olympic Winter Games on Eurosport and Eurosport Player. Go to: www.eurosport.co.uk ¬ TODAY