Mellisa Hollingsworth had a rough exit out of turn 6 at the Whistler Sliding Centre track on Friday (Feb. 19) and it cost her a chance at Canada's first 2010 Olympic medal to be won in Whistler.
Hollingsworth, who entered the fourth and final run of the women's skeleton competition in position for a silver medal, came down hard out of the turn. Her sled then bounced to the side as she entered turn 7, and even though she held it together to complete a decent run, the time lost was enough to knock her from second to fifth in the final results.
Great Britain's Amy Williams, meanwhile, touched off raucous celebrations among supporters in the crowd when she came home with her country's first medal of these Games, a gold, finishing 56 hundredths of a second ahead of second-place Kerstin Szymkowiak of Germany. Germany's Anja Huber took the bronze, finishing 72 hundredths behind Williams.
Hollingsworth, the current World Cup points leader and one of the pre-race favourites, laid down a solid third run to leapfrog past Szymkowiak and into second place by a mere one hundredth of a second. That was still 52 hundredths behind Williams, and it would have taken a mistake by the leader for Hollingsworth or another slider to overtake her.
It didn't come. Williams, the final slider to come down the track, remained rock solid on the fourth run and arrived in the finish area to the cheers of jubilant fans, among them British billionaire adventurer Sir Richard Branson.
It was Britain's first individual Winter Olympic gold medal in 58 years.
Some of the U.K. in attendance braved sub-freezing temperatures with no shirts on and "AMY" scrawled across their chests.
"I can't believe it's actually happening right now," Williams said. "I feel like I'm in a little bubble and I don't know if it's all real, but I think it is when I pinch myself."
Said Huber, "It is the perfect performance. She is the right Olympic champion."
After having put down her fastest run of the competition, 53.81 seconds, during her third run, Hollingsworth had her slowest, 54.44, on the final run. It left her .96 seconds behind Williams, dropping her behind Szymkowiak, Huber and U.S. slider Noelle Pikus-Pace and into fifth.
"I came out of (turn) 6 and I hit the wall," said a tearful Hollingsworth. "It caused some oscillations going into 7. I kept it together and kept my form, but it cost me some time there.
"The two big hits killed my speed, but I still kept to the plan and finished the track."
Hollingsworth didn't try to hide her disappointment. Asked whether she felt pressure going into the final run, she said, "I knew that I was all right there and that I was ready. It just had a mistake, and it just happens to have happened during the Olympics.
"You're in a sport that's measured in hundredths of a second, and I had one mistake that cost me."
Canadian Amy Gough finished seventh, 1.37 off the pace, and Michelle Kelly finished 13th, 5.15 seconds behind, and expressed her support for Hollingsworth.
"I didn't see the whole race (but) I heard a gasp from the crowd. I feel bad for Mellisa. I was really hoping she'd have the run of her life. For sure, my heart goes out to her."
