Winter Youth Olympics 2012: Team GB enjoys mixed fortunes
The Sport Review's Andrew Magee reports on how Great Britain have fared after five days of the Winter Youth Olympics
Team GB has enjoyed mixed fortunes in the opening five days of competition at the inaugural Winter Youth Olympics in Innsbruck, Austria.
Katie Summerhayes, one of the team’s top medal hopes going into the Games and flagbearer at the Opening Ceremony, finished fifth in the Women’s Freestyle skiing halfpipe.
Her scores of 55.00 in her first run and 44.75 in her second were unable to topple Austria’s Elisabeth Gram, whose first run score of 84.75 saw her claim gold.
After the event Summerhayes said: “I wanted to come away with a top five result, so to be able to get that is really pleasing. Just being here with this quality of competition has been great and it’s all good experience for me.
“It was great that my family, coaches and so many of the other Team GB athletes were here to support me – it was great to come down to the bottom of the pipe and see them waving the flag.â€
Tyler Harding finished 10th in the Men’s halfpipe event, while Lewis Courtier-Jones came eighth in the snowboard halfpipe final, finishing 14th overall.
The mixed Curling team failed to make it through the round robin stages after a faltering start that left them with work to do. However, the team finished on a high, thrashing hosts Austria 9-1 in the final pool game.
“The last three games we performed very well, it’s just a shame that we didn’t play like that at the start of the competition,” said Curler Thomas Muirhead.
“But that’s what you take away from these competitions, you learn from them. You’ve got to start how you mean to finish it, so you have to perform at your best throughout the competition.â€
Elsewhere, Calum Irvine placed 35th in a field of 50 competitors in the biathlon 7.5km sprint at Seefeld, while Alpine skiers Paul Henderson and Rachelle Rogers both failed to gain an overall placing in the super combined after failing to finish the slalom and Super G runs respectively. 
Like The Sport Review on Facebook:
Read more on: boa, Calum Irvine, Katie Summerhayes, Team GB, winter youth olympics 2012.
