Canada rules Skeleton!

[Appels]

Canada slides to gold, silver

The medals gave Canada three in two days of skeleton, as Mellisa Hollingsworth-Richards of Eckville, Alta., claimed bronze in the women's event Thursday.

CESANA PARIOL, Italy (CP) -- Duff Gibson slid to the gold medal while Jeff Pain claimed silver Friday as Canada narrowly missed a medal sweep in Olympic men's skeleton.

Paul Boehm of Calgary finished fourth, bumped off the podium by Gregor Staehli of Switzerland who won the bronze.

Gibson stood first after the first run and he clinched the gold on his final run, posting a combined time of one minute 55.88 seconds.

That bumped Pain, a fellow Calgarian who was first at 1:56.14, down to silver.

Staehli ended up third in 1:56.80, edging Boehm by 0.26 seconds.

Gibson, 39, won the gold at the 2004 world championship but had to settle for bronze in 2005. He's a former speedskater and bobsledder who switched to skeleton prior to the 1999-2000 season.

Pain, 35, came into the competition as the man to beat. He won four of seven World Cup events and the overall title during the season. He also won the gold at the 2005 world championships.

Pain was sixth at the 2002 Salt Lake Games while Gibson was 10th.

Boehm, 31, is appearing in his first Olympics. He finished sixth in this year's World Cup standings.

The 1.4 kilometre Olympic track is an icy snake filled with 19 curves. It's technically demanding and unforgiving as sledders reach speeds of over 125 km/h.

The competition was held under the lights on a cold night.

http://www.sportsnet.ca/athletics/ar...17_140601_5636

[LionDen]

I have to say, i would love to give that skeleton a go, i looks like so much fun. Thanx for the news.

[crazy]

Man, you need some major guys to do skeleton. Looks like a ton of fun though.

Awesome day for Canada though, tied for second in medals, 6-0 win over Finland in Womens hockey to make it 42-1 and for them, but unfortunately USA lost ina shootout to Sweden. Another Canada/USA match would be more competitive and fun to watch than Canada vs. Sweden which'll probably end up as a squash.