The United States has more skeleton medals than any other country (8 total, 3 gold).
Sliding events are taking place at the Alpensia Sliding Centre. Today’s training runs were Americans Katie Uhlaender and Kendall Wesenberg’s final chance to tweak their runs before official competition begins.
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Uhlaender just missed the podium in Sochi, coming in fourth by .04 seconds. She is competing in her fourth Olympic games. Uhlander was the first to take her training run. She had a fast start of 5.28 second, which was the fastst so far. She was looking to be the fastest on the day until she came around the second turn too high. She had to break form to regain control. She ended with a time of 52.95, which put her near the top with the eighth fastest time of the day.
In the second run, she had a slightly slower start but looked more balance in her run. Near the bottom she picked up time again. She ended a little slower than her first run with a time of 53.02, which was good for the sixth fastest time of the heat.
This is Wesenberg’s first Olympics. She started training in Skeleton after watching the Winter Games in Vancouver. Like Uhlaender, her start was good, clocking in at 5.28. She looked good through the first turn. The second turn also gave her trouble, slowing her down. She finished with a time of 53.33, which put her near the middle with the 11th fastest time of the run.
The 27-year-old’s second run looked better. Her start time was also slightly slower at 5.30 seconds. She looked like she had a better track on the route, bettering her time with a finish of 53.29. She again finished near the middle in a tie for 10th in the heat.
Germany’s Jacqueline Loelling, the World Cup leader for the 2017-18 season, took the first training run of the day and ended up being the fastest with a time of 52.32. Her second run was slower with a time of 52.81.
The women officially begin competition with runs 1 and 2 on Feb. 16th and runs 3 and 4 on Feb. 17th.