Minichiello upbeat despite sluggish start to bobsleigh medal bid

From Sportsbeat staff, in Whistler

GREAT Britain's Nicola Minichiello is well out of medal contention after the opening run of the Olympic women's bobsleigh competition in Whistler.

SLOW START: World champion Nicola Minichiello lies tenth after the first run of the women's bobsleigh at the Whistler Sliding Centre (Getty Images)

Minichiello and brakewoman Gillian Cooke, who won last year's world title in Lake Placid, were a distant tenth after their first run.

But they insisted they could still deliver on their much-hyped medal potential, despite being an early 0.66 seconds off the pace.

"Anything's still possible, I don't see why we can't still get a medal," said Minichiello, who was watched by Great Britain's skeleton gold medallist Amy Williams.

"That's still our aim so we're going to give it a shot. I still love this track. I've loved it every minute I've been on it. It's the best track to slide on in the world.

"It was only the first of four runs, so it's still early days and there's a lot of the competition left to go. Everyone's ambition is to get four good clean runs."

Canada's Kaillie Humphries and Heather Moyse are the early frontrunners as snowy conditions slowed track times from training runs.

But they are just nine hundredths ahead of Germany's Cathleen Martini and Romy Logsch and Americans Erin Pac and Elana Meyers in joint second place.

Paula Walker and Kelly Thomas, in Great Britain's second string sled, are 14th while the Republic of Ireland's Aoife Hoey and Claire Bergin are in 21st and last place.

 

AS IT HAPPENS: Follow day 12 of the Winter Olympics in Vancouver