Britain’s hopes of winning an Olympic medal in the skeleton for the sixth straight Games are over following a poor start by Laura Deas and Brogan Crowley in the women’s event on Friday.
British skeleton athletes have secured at least one medal at every Games since the sport was restored to the Olympic programme in 2002, when Alex Coomber secured a bronze medal in Salt Lake City.
Team GB racers exceeded expectations four years ago in Pyeongchang when Lizzy Yarnold retained her title with Deas on the podium, while Dominic Parsons was also a surprise bronze medallist in the men's event.
Deas came into the event confident that recent equipment upgrades would give her a shot at the podium once more. Despite an investment of £6.5million from UK Sport for the current Olympic cycle - along with a promise of technological innovation - Britain have underwhelmed in Yanging.
Deas struggled during her two runs, finishing a total of 1.80 seconds behind leader Jaclyn Narracott of Australia, while Crowley is a further 0.41 seconds behind on her Olympic debut.
The Team GB duo sit 21st and 22nd respectively after the first two runs of the event, which concludes on Saturday. They are only beating athletes from South Korea, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands.
“That's certainly not the outcome I wanted,” said Deas. “I think I slid very well today. I came to the start block in a great frame of mind.
"I put together two good runs that I think I can be proud of.
“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.”
After missing out on medals in the mixed curling and snowboard cross earlier in the week, there was more disappointment for Team GB on Thursday as they struggled across both genders in the skeleton.
The skeleton has provided the foundation of Team GB’s success in recent Games, but Matt Weston and Marcus Wyatt sit in 13th and 17th places respectively midway through the men's event, which is set to conclude with its final two runs late on Friday night.
With the women not faring any better, questions are set to be asked about the future of Team GB’s funding in the skeleton.
