Podium places for GB Skeleton in Igls

The second week of the skeleton season saw a host of podium places for Great Britain in Austria on Thursday and Friday.

Marcus Wyatt and Maddy Smith led the way on the European Cup (EC) circuit in Igls, with Donna Creighton and Jerry Rice following suit in Intercontinental Cup (ICC) competition at the same venue.

With the top six spots earning a place on the podium, Wyatt secured a fourth and fifth-place finish in the men’s EC races on Thursday and Friday and Smith sealed fifth and sixth spots in the women’s races.

Creighton was equally consistent as she claimed seventh and sixth spots in the ICC, while Rice backed up his top 10 position in Race 1 with sixth in Race 2.

“It was a solid start to the season,” said GB Skeleton Performance Advisor, Andi Schmid.

Marcus and Maddy produced some impressive runs in just their second and third European Cup races for Great Britain and they can take a lot of confidence from their performances.

“There were plenty of other positives for our sliders, with a number of top 10 finishes across both circuits. The seven athletes competing on the EC are in their first full season of racing and they’ve shown some real promise so far.

“But they all know there is also plenty to work on as they get set for more racing in Germany next week. Consistency is vital in our sport and learning to take your form from training into the race and producing back-to-back performances is an important part of their development.

“The same goes for our ICC sliders: there were some good signs but we know that there is still lots of room for improvement.”

Ashleigh Pittaway again backed up her performances from last season’s Youth Olympics gold medal winning campaign with two top-12 places on the ICC circuit, while Kenny Howard was ninth in Race 2.

Brogan Crowley was equal ninth and 11th; Tim Hull was eighth and 14th; Craig Thompson was 10th and 12th; Kim Murray was 16th and 20th; and Ellie Furneaux was 21st and 24th on the EC circuit, with James Howard 24th and 25th in ICC competition.

For a full list of British results from both the EC and ICC races, please click here. We’ll be updating race results as they happen throughout the season so remember to check our race calendar page on a regular basis.

For the complete race results across all nations, please visit the IBSF website results page by clicking here.