WHISTLER, Canada—It was a heartbreaking night on Friday for Canadian Mellisa Hollingsworth, who was a medal favorite coming into the final race of the women’s skeleton, but a bad run dropped her from second to fifth.
The final result of the skeleton race is a tally of the racers’ four runs down the track. Whoever has the lowest total time wins.
Hollingsworth was in second place going into the final run, but a few mis-steers cost her time and a drop down to fifth with three minutes and 36.60 seconds, 0.96 seconds from gold medalist Amy Williams of Great Britain.
“At sixth [corner] I had a fall and it caused some oscillations in seventh and that’s where the problems really happened—a lot of time,” said Hollingsworth, sobbing.
“I got scrubbed off, and I had these two big hits in the bend-away, but I wasn’t giving up ... [I] tried to keep my form and still keep on the game plan all the way down the track. It was a pretty heartbreaking scene, number four on the scoreboard.”
She was bumped down to the fifth by Williams, who had her run right after.
Hollingsworth was devastated when she heard from coach Nathan Ciccora her start time in the finishing run was the fastest at 4.93 seconds, her personal best. The start is considered as the most crucial portion of skeleton, as the speed is carried through down the course.
“That’s when the tears started because obviously I knew I had the potential,” said Hollingsworth.
“I wasn’t trying to hang on to a silver medal. I was a half a second [behind]—I don’t think that is anything on this track. You can see, I just lost half a second.”
In order to make her win more promising, she had had four years of preparation for the home Games. She was shocked at the 2006 Turin Games when she barely hung on for bronze in the competition.
Although she expected no errors to occur, she could not predict her luck.
“It just happened to happen on the Olympic Games,” said Hollingsworth.
After Hollingsworth’s unexpected error, she was comforted by her parents. Her father, Darcy, spent many sleepless nights prior to the Games.
“He told me that I was his hero,” said Hollingsworth.
That meant a lot for her.
“It’s been a great journey, it’s been a great ride, and of course, there’re more people that follow you when the events get bigger and bigger, but they are the ones that are always there when things are difficult and I love them very much.”
The final result of the skeleton race is a tally of the racers’ four runs down the track. Whoever has the lowest total time wins.
Hollingsworth was in second place going into the final run, but a few mis-steers cost her time and a drop down to fifth with three minutes and 36.60 seconds, 0.96 seconds from gold medalist Amy Williams of Great Britain.
“At sixth [corner] I had a fall and it caused some oscillations in seventh and that’s where the problems really happened—a lot of time,” said Hollingsworth, sobbing.
“I got scrubbed off, and I had these two big hits in the bend-away, but I wasn’t giving up ... [I] tried to keep my form and still keep on the game plan all the way down the track. It was a pretty heartbreaking scene, number four on the scoreboard.”
She was bumped down to the fifth by Williams, who had her run right after.
Hollingsworth was devastated when she heard from coach Nathan Ciccora her start time in the finishing run was the fastest at 4.93 seconds, her personal best. The start is considered as the most crucial portion of skeleton, as the speed is carried through down the course.
“That’s when the tears started because obviously I knew I had the potential,” said Hollingsworth.
“I wasn’t trying to hang on to a silver medal. I was a half a second [behind]—I don’t think that is anything on this track. You can see, I just lost half a second.”
In order to make her win more promising, she had had four years of preparation for the home Games. She was shocked at the 2006 Turin Games when she barely hung on for bronze in the competition.
Although she expected no errors to occur, she could not predict her luck.
“It just happened to happen on the Olympic Games,” said Hollingsworth.
After Hollingsworth’s unexpected error, she was comforted by her parents. Her father, Darcy, spent many sleepless nights prior to the Games.
“He told me that I was his hero,” said Hollingsworth.
That meant a lot for her.
“It’s been a great journey, it’s been a great ride, and of course, there’re more people that follow you when the events get bigger and bigger, but they are the ones that are always there when things are difficult and I love them very much.”
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