The first Russian bronze in the women's skeleton
The first Russian bronze in the women's skeleton
For the first time in the history of the Olympic Games, the Russian athlete won a bronze medal in the skeleton.
For the history of the Olympic Games, Russian athletes,which act in the discipline of the female skeleton, never rose to the podium. Until 2014, the best Russian skeletonist was Ekaterina Mironova, who was able to take only the seventh place at the Olympic Games in Canada. On the sledge-bobsleigh track "Sankey" the Russian skeleton team was presented by three sportswomen at once in this kind of competition - Elena Nikitina, Olga Potylitsyna and Maria Orlova. According to the results of the Olympic race, all three girls entered the top six, which is a very good result for the team. The competition for the women's skeleton took two days. After the first day of the competition Elena Nikitina occupied the third line of the standings, and was able to hold on to this position after her last race. Her total time of passage of the route based on the results of four runs was 3 minutes and 54.30 seconds. The victory in the form of a gold Olympic medal in this sport went to the representative of England - Elizabeth Yarnold, and silver - Noel Picus-Pace (USA). An interesting fact was that Elena Nikitina began to skeleton quite unexpectedly, before she played for the Moscow national football team . In the Russian team for the skeleton, it fell only in 2009. At its very first participation in the World Cup, Nikitina took the tenth place at once, ahead of her compatriots by several positions. The bronze Olympic medal in Sochi is not the only podium of the 21-year-old athlete. In January 2013, she became the first Russian girl who won the European Championships in Skeleton.
