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Britain's curlers in action
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With almost a week having passed since the Opening Ceremony of the 21st Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver, action involving British athletes is coming thick and fast. Having already seen Zoe Gillings record her best ever finish at an Olympic Games, narrowly missing out on a final place in finishing 8th in the Snowboard Cross, there are plenty of positive signs for British athletes going into week two of competition.

Team GB’s skeleton sliders were in impressive form in their final training session before the Bob Skeleton competition starts today (Thursday), climaxing with the final two runs tomorrow (Friday). Amy Williams, the 2009 World Championship silver medalist, recorded an impressive second fastest time on both of the final training runs, meaning she has now been second fastest in three of the last four sessions. Williams’ team-mate Shelley Rudman, Team GB’s Turin 2006 Olympic Winter Games silver medalist, also performed well, finishing fourth fastest on the final training run.

Meanwhile, both the Men’s and Women’s Curling teams each ended their first day of competition recording a win and a loss. The Women’s team began their Olympic Games in style by beating reigning World Champions China before a narrow defeat to reigning Olympic Champions Sweden meant they entered the second day of competition in equal fourth position in the table. The Men’s team would have been disappointed to open their Olympic campaign with defeat to reigning European Champions Sweden but hit back to record an impressive victory against France, meaning that both British teams enter the second week in Vancouver with a good chance of progressing further in the competition.

Chemmy Alcott got her Vancouver 2010 Olympic campaign off to an encouraging start in the Women’s downhill, finishing 13th and will now focus on other alpine events including the slalom, giant slalom and super-G. Elsewhere Team GB speed skaters will be hoping to improve on performances in the first week of competition and Jon Eley, who skated to a personal best in his 1000m qualifying heat, will hope to push for a medal in the 500m, the event in which he is current European Silver medalist.

UK Sport wishes all members of Team GB the best of luck in week two of the Vancouver Games.

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