WYOG 2012: Gale denied Great Britain's first medal in Innsbruck

From Charlie Talbot-Smith, Sportsbeat, in Innsbruck

GREAT Britain ice hockey star Katherine Gale came heartbreakingly close to claiming Team GB's first-ever medal at the Winter Youth Olympic Games before eventually settling for fifth in the individual skills challenge.

HEARTBREAK: Katherine Gale was only one point away from claiming Team GB's first medal of the games

Gale, who qualified for Thursday's final with the second-highest total, ended up with the same overall score (17) as the bronze medal winner but lost out on countback over the six disciplines.

Considered by many a strong bet for a podium place out in Innsbruck, Gale started Thursday evening's medal event in impressive style as she recorded the second fastest lap of the ice.

But the subsequent skill tests of shooting accuracy, skating agility, shot speed and passing precision proved to be her undoing and despite an improved performance in the final skill of puck control she was agonisingly outside a medal.

 And the 17-year-old, who represented the GB senior side at the World Championships in France last April, admitted that fifth was a bitter pill to swallow after her high expectations.

"It was so close so of course it's disappointing but I gave it my all and I really enjoyed the whole event," she said.

"I had a few unlucky draws and a couple of unlucky events where I hit a cone or the puck got away from me, it was just an unlucky day overall really.

"I kind of kept track of the events and how it was playing out but the most important thing is to focus on each individual event and giving my best.

"I was confused at the end about where I had come, I was trying to ask my parents in the stands but they didn't know either."

Over at Seefeld Arena Sarah Hale was another success story for Team GB as she became only the second ever British cross country skier to make the knockout stages of a sprint competition on the world stage.

Hale, who lives in Sweden, qualified in 25^th place to make the quarter-finals before coming home fourth in her heat that ended her competition.

And despite making history out in Austria Hale admitted she still had some regrets about her performance over the 1km course.

"It felt very good to make the quarters but to be honest I really wanted to get to the semi-finals in this event," she said.

"A couple of people fell in front of me during the race and that slowed me down a bit but even so I should have pushed a bit harder.

"I was slow to get out of the blocks at the start and then I had to make it back up but a girl fell right in front of me on the hill which didn't help.

"But to make the knockout stages is a good achievement and I'm sure I'll be proud of it when I look back."

On the men's side of the draw it was less good news however as Scott Dixon finished in 33^rd, only two seconds outside the top 30, meaning he failed to make it through to the quarter-finals.

In the morning session in Austria short track speed skaters Jack Burrows and Aydin Djemal failed to repeat their heroics of the night before in the men's 500m as they ended up 15^th and 13^th respectively.

And alpine skier Paul Henderson also had a day to forget as he missed a gate in his morning run of the giant slalom that ruled him out of overall contention.

But with the slalom, traditionally Henderson's strongest event, still to come over the weekend hopes are still high for the 17-year-old.

"It's up to me to hopefully learn from today and take it into the slalom at the weekend where I want to prove to myself as much as anything that I can compete when it matters most," he said.

"The slalom is my favourite event, if I can make a top 15 finish that would be fantastic."

Finallysnowboarder  Lewis Courtier-Jones managed to qualify for the slopestyle finals over in Kuhtai but failed to find his best on the big stage and ended up 16th overall.

The British Olympic Association prepares and leads British athletes at the summer, winter and youth Olympic Games. It works in partnership with sport National Governing Bodies to enhance Olympic success and is responsible for championing the Olympic values.www.olympics.org.uk

© Sportsbeat 2012