Canada's Rahneva sits 9th at midway mark of women's skeleton
Ottawa native posts fastest time in 1st run; sits 0.60 seconds back of podium
Australia's Jaclyn Narracott is on track at the halfway mark of the women's skeleton on Friday to become the first slider outside of Europe and North America to claim a medal in the event as the sun set on Britain's dominance of the event.
After the first of four runs down the track at the Yanqing National Sliding, Canada's Mirela Rahneva sat in first place, two hundreths of a second ahead of Narcott.
Despite a strong push start on the second run, the Bulgaria-born Canadian from Ottawa had trouble down the final section of the course, losing her line and pushing her down to ninth place at the race's midway mark.
Rahneva, 33, reached the podium twice on the IBSF World Cup in 2021-22, sliding to bronze medals in St. Moritz, Switzerland, and Winterberg, Germany. In both of those races she had faster second run than her first, proving she can fight back from a deficit.
After two Olympic runs, she sits 0.60 seconds back of the podium.
WATCH | Canada's Rahneva posts fastest 1st run in skeleton heats:
World Cup races combine the time of two runs, while the Olympics features four.
Fellow Canadian Jane Channell. kept pace with the pack in the first run, only 0.56 seconds slower than Rahnevas's lead. However, the Burnaby, B.C. native had trouble on the second run, falling a full second back to sit at 1.56 seconds away from the lead, and in 17th place.
It was also a fine debut for China's 19-year old, Zhao Dan, the youngest slider in the competition, who hadn't even tried the sport four years ago at the last Olympics. She sits just in fourth.
"This field is ridiculously competitive, so to be sitting at the top of it is phenomenal," said Narraccott, who finished 16th in Pyeongyang four years ago.
"I have my husband and my coach by my side, whereas all years we've been doing it by Facetime," she said, speaking to reporters after the race.
She is married to Briton Dom Parsons, who won bronze medal in the men's skeleton event in South Korea.
The pair were often apart while Narraccott was racing through much of the last Europe-based World Cup season, becoming the first Australian to win in one of the events in St Moritz last month.
"To have him by my side, he's seeing the ice that I'm seeing, we can do video in real time and to have that support with me is huge."
"It would be absolutely unreal" for the sport in Australia if she repeats her success in the event's finale tomorrow night, she said. "It might actually get some girls back into skeleton."
Germany has been unstoppable in the luge events, claiming the last of four golds available in the team relay on Thursday night. But it has never taken the top spot in the skeleton event.
Just 0.21 seconds behind in second place, Hannah Neise is looking to change that.
"We have been here in October and we had some good experiences here," she said of the German team.
"Especially me, I really liked the track and I feel confident here. So I don't stress myself and just keep calm and slide, and concentrate on myself."
It was a disappointing race for Britain's Laura Deas, bronze winner in Pyeongchang but who is 21st out of 25 after the first half of the competition.
"I can't tell you right now why the speed wasn't there. I don't know. I think I did myself proud. I've worked incredibly hard for the last four years to get to the start block today. And I feel like I did execute exactly what I wanted to do."
Deas's mentor and compatriot Lizzy Yarnold took gold in both Sochi and Pyeongchang, and followed British skeleton gold in Vancouver. But the most decorated female skeleton athlete of all time has retired, leaving big shoes to fill.
Britan's Brogan Crowley was happy with her first Olympic outing, sitting just behind Deas in 22nd.
"It was a step up from training, I've got bits in training but I've not managed to put much together, so it was definitely progress," she said.
With files from Ben Steiner, CBC Sports
