Dom Parsons admits Team GB skeleton suit gives him 'edge' in hunt for medal

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Dom Parsons catapulted himself into medal contention at the halfway stage of the men’s skeleton and then admitted Team GB’s controversial skinsuits were giving him a “little edge”.

The 30-year-old from Walthamstow is fourth — just three hundredths of a second off bronze — and will bid in the early hours of tomorrow morning to become Britain’s first medallist of these Winter Olympics.

Parsons is ranked 12th in the world but performed above that here today, having impressed in practice.

Britain’s medal hopefuls in the women’s skeleton, defending champion Lizzy Yarnold and Laura Deas, have also gone well in training, sparking accusations from rivals that the race suits are illegal.

2018 Winter Olympics: Day five highlights

Those protests were rejected yesterday by the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation and although Parsons played down the row today he admitted the suits, which have drag-resistant ridges to reduce wind resistance, were helping him.

He said: “I think things get exaggerated a lot more than is realistic. I don’t think it’s like an arms race, it’s more that it gives a little edge.

“All the nations are pushing forwards with technology as much as possible and, obviously, we wouldn’t be doing that work [on the suits] if it didn’t make a difference. However, it’s not a huge difference just those little hundredths.”

A ragged first run of 50.85sec gave Parsons a share of fifth but an improved second run of 50.41sec left him just behind third-placed Martin Dukurs of Latvia and 0.17 of a second adrift of Russian Nikita Tregubov, who is in the silver medal position.

South Korea’s Yun Sung-bin dominated on his home track and leads by almost three quarters of a second, a massive margin in the sport, ahead of the concluding two runs.

“Yun is in a league of his own at the moment,” said Parsons. “It’s almost a little bit of a parallel with Roger Black when he was racing Michael Johnson going for second.”

In Pictures | PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympic Games: Skeleton

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Of his own medal aspirations, Parsons added: “That’s what I’ve been aiming for, for four years so I hope so.”

The other British entry, Jerry Rice ended the day in 12th, 1.86 seconds off the pace. Rice, who was loudly cheered on my family and friends wearing ‘Rice Pudding Fan Club hooded tops’, hit back at the gripes from other teams over the skinsuits.

He said: “People can grumble as much as they like and everyone is doing everything they can and we’re the same. People can talk about what they like but we’re good because we do everything well and make sure we get maximum quality out of everything we do.”

The suits were still a talking point among rivals today. New Zealand’s Rhys Thornbury said: “In a sport where equipment is involved, it will always be key. You look at Formula One, sometimes the guys who are winning aren’t the guys who are the best — it’s the guys with the best equipment. It’s not just the suits, we’re talking about the runners and sleds too.”

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