More thrills and spills set for day 7 of Sochi 2014. Look out for Lizzy Yarnold of team GB, currently leading the women’s Skeleton event. Skeleton is face down, head first, not to be confused with Luge, which is face up and feet first. Not sure which is more terrifying when you’re hurtling around the ice track at a hundred miles an hour.
25 year old Lizzy Yarnold is going for Gold at Sochi 2014. She took up Skeleton aged 19, and her motto is “It helps if you’re a little bit mad.”
Here are some more athletes making headlines at Sochi:
Sara Takanashi
One of Sochi’s youngest competitors at 17, Japanese Sara Takanashi came 4th in the Ski Jumping, just missing out on a medal. “My nerves cost me my medal,” she said. She was widely tipped to take Gold, and was bitterly disappointed to get no medal at all. She is one of 113 athletes in Team Japan, and at 5 foot, she’s the shortest.
The women’s Ski Jumping medals at the RusSki Gorki Jumping Centre went to Germany’s Carina Vogt (Gold), Austria’s Daniela Iraschko-Stolz (Silver), and France’s Colline Mattel (Bronze).
Felix Loch
Germany’s Felix Loch won Gold at Sochi’s Sanki Sliding Center on Sunday in the Luge event. He is coached by his Dad. The 24 year old is dominating his sport and commentators say he has a bright future ahead of him.
Ole Einar Bjoerndalen
At 40 years old, Ole is a veteran of the Winter Olympics, in the Skiing Sprint event. He won 4 Gold medals at Salt Lake City 2002 Winter Olympics. And he’s just won Gold here at Sochi 2014 in the men’s Biathlon 10km Sprint, taking his Winter Olympics total medal career tally to 12. This places him joint first with Bjoern Daehlie with the most medals won by one individual in all Winter Olympics combined.
Dominic Londesborough is a personal trainer in London who helps clients with their ski fitness training.